FirePower
by Cantanatova
Summary: It's the end of the war, and Hermione returns to Hogwarts for a peaceful year. Or so she thinks. With new teachers, new subjects and new perspectives, how long will it be until trouble catches up with the golden trio again? HG/DM (eventually), HG/RW, HP/GW, SS/OC. Very slight Ron bashing, non-epilogue compliant, slight AU after DH.
1. Prologue

**A/N** – This is only my second fanfic, and my first Harry Potter one. I know the books well but may make some mistakes – all I ask is that any criticism is kept to constructive comments about my writing style or plot, not about any slight errors I may make from the originals (this is Harry Potter as according to me).

**Disclaimer** – This all belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling, except my OCs.

Prologue

Snape lay against the wall in the shrieking shack, his life ebbing away with the snakes poison. He had done his job, he had given Potter the memories that would help him finally defeat the Dark Lord, and now the world was slowly fading away as the poison worked through his system. He could almost feel the moment it reached his heart and stopped it beating.

Except if this was death, it felt wrong. Instead of becoming fainter and calmer, everything was becoming more vivid. More worryingly, it was also becoming more painful. The dull ache in his side had become searing agony from where the Dark Lord's curse had hit, and he could feel the blood running down his neck from Nagini's bites. There was a crashing of noise around him from the war that was still raging. He didn't know how long he had been out of it, but the fighting appeared to be in full flow. The pain he could feel in his arm was eclipsed by the pain in the rest of him and at this point it didn't signify anything. He was in no state to realise that his Dark Lord had met his end at the hands of a 17 year old boy.

He suddenly became aware that he wasn't alone. Someone was busy tending to the wounds on his neck, stemming the blood flow. With an effort he opened his eyes and found himself looking into piercing blue eyes. He stared blankly for a moment before the realisation hit him – he knew those eyes. But it was impossible.

"Albus?" His voice was a croaked whisper. The eyes sparkled merrily in response.

"Not quite Severus." Snape had just long enough to realise that the voice was female and this didn't seem to make sense, before he drifted into unconsciousness again.

-x-x-

Guinevere looked around the small office, searching for something. Behind her in one of the large chairs that typically decorated the headmaster's office a figure slumped, head lolling forwards on his chest which moved slowly with his ragged breaths. The office had not escaped the wrath of the war, there was detritus everywhere and one wall was struggling to remain upright. That didn't matter to her though, as she searched through the portraits that lined the walls.

The fighting had stopped now, and there was a strange stillness over the castle. In the great hall far beneath her the survivors of the war were gathering, celebrating and mourning their losses. Up in the study the only sound was Guinevere's impatience as she looked for the person she was after. Eventually she stopped in front of a frame just behind the headmaster's desk.

"I know you're in there. I want to speak to you."

Albus Dumbledore slid into the empty frame, and looked at the woman perched on the edge of his desk with surprise. "What are you doing here, Guinevere?"

"Something wasn't right, I came to fix it." She waved behind her slightly, and the portrait saw the unconscious figure for the first time.

"What did you do?!" The figure in the mirror was shouting now, drawing the attention of all the other portraits of past headmasters and 'mistresses of Hogwarts.

Guinevere sighed, she had known this would require a little work. "It wasn't fair," she replied calmly, flicking her bright red hair back over her shoulder. "He did so much, I wasn't going to let him die." The figure in the portrait opened his mouth, about to berate her further when she held up her hand. "I know that I've probably changed the future irrevocably, but sometimes it needs changing."

"You can't just waltz into this dimension and change everything! You don't belong here, child."

She sighed, rubbing her temples with one hand. "I'm here to even the balance, as it were. I am not the only creature here tonight from another dimension."

The figure of Albus Dumbledore paused at that, and if a portrait could have paled he would have then. "Demons? Demons came?"

The woman perched on his desk nodded wearily. "With everything Voldemort did, how could they not? He created enough rips in the fabric of this dimension that others have begun to leak through. I'm here to redress the balance. And saving him," she jerked her hand over her shoulder towards the unconscious figure, "is just the start."

The elderly wizard gazed at her from his small portrait, concern evident in the piercing blue eyes. "Be very careful, Guinevere. There are many things here that will harm one of your kind."

Matching eyes looked at him from a pale face surrounded by red hair so bright that it almost glowed. "Don't worry father, I know what I'm doing." She cocked her head slightly as she heard voices coming up the stairs. "Someone's coming…it sounds like Potter. He'll be wanting your advice." She grinned at the portrait who was proudly looking towards the stairs and disappeared in a flash. Amongst the rapturous applause of all the portraits in the office the three teenagers didn't notice her leaving.


	2. Hogwarts

**A/N** – Thanks to those who read the Prologue. It would be nice to get some constructive feedback on the story if you like it, or not. My first HP fanfic!

**Disclaimer** – This all belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling, except my OCs.

Hogwarts

Hermione Granger was lying in the small bed, staring at the ceiling. She seemed to spend a lot of time staring at the ceiling recently, trying to avoid sleeping. Sleeping brought all the memories, memories of things that she could push to the back of her mind when she was awake, for example from that day in the Malfoy manor. She shuddered as the brief recollection flitted through her thoughts, before she shoved it aside and concentrated on something happier. Ron kissing her in the room of requirements, that was a happier memory. When she was asleep she had no control at all, and that led to the nightmares that turned her into a sobbing, shaking wreck when she woke.

She rolled over on her side, and instead of the ceiling found her eyes focussing on the youngest Weasley. As usual the night before Hogwarts started Hermione was staying at the Burrow, sharing Ginny's room. More unusual was the fact that they would also be sharing a dormitory and classes this year, given that Hermione didn't attend school at all last year due to their quest to find the Horcruxes she was a year behind all her former classmates. As the NEWT exams last year had been severely disrupted, what with the fall of Voldemort and all, everyone had been given the opportunity to redo the year, but she wouldn't be sure who turned up until she got on the Hogwarts Express tomorrow. _Well today really_, Hermione thought as she looked through the light drapes covering the window at the setting moon, the sky already beginning to lose some of its blackness.

Thoughts of Hogwarts turned her attention to the letter she had received by owl a few days before, enclosing her Head Girl badge. She had been disappointed when Ron and Harry hadn't been sent a similar owl, but on reading Headmistress McGonagall's letter it made far more sense.

'Dear Miss Granger,

'I am delighted to announce that after some consideration it has been decided to award you with the position of Head Girl at Hogwarts. As I'm sure you are aware this honour is not given lightly, and it is expected that continue to display the exemplary dedication to your education and school that has prompted this award.

'In light of the recent unrest it is imperative that the wounds of the wizarding world begin to heal, and it is hoped that in your new position you will strive to do everything in your power during your final year at Hogwarts to achieve this goal. There will be additional duties requested of the Head's at this time to work towards this.

'I await our first meeting, the evening of your arrival at Hogwarts at 8pm.

Professor McGonagall.'

Hermione hadn't known what to make of the letter, but took it to mean that the Head Boy and Head Girl positions would be chosen to reflect the recent Ministry attempts at promoting equality. Knowing her luck, the Head Boy would therefore be a pure bred Slytherin, someone like that irritating Zabini. With a sigh she turned onto her back again, picking out shadows on the ceiling as the light outside began to penetrate the room. Well there wasn't much she could do about it, just had to work with whoever they had decided. She just hoped, no _prayed_ that it wasn't Draco Malfoy.

-x-x-

Fate was out to get her, Hermione decided as she stormed away from the prefect's carriage back to where her friends were waiting. It had to be Malfoy, didn't it. That bleached blond, ferret faced elitist who took so much pleasure in making her life difficult. She paused for breath and leant against one of the walls of the carriage, trying to regain some composure. The minute she entered the prefect's carriage and saw him there with his shiny Head Boy badge, her heart had dropped. Suddenly Zabini seemed like a great alternative. He had smirked as she took the list of tasks that McGonagall had left them and started to assign the prefects onto a patrolling rota, not bothering to lift a finger to help. Once the prefects had left, she turned to mention the meeting with McGonagall that evening but he had already swept out of the carriage ignoring her completely.

She fumed as she resumed her march down the train, scaring the younger students with her face like thunder. She had thought for a moment that maybe the events of last year and the long summer would have done something to change his character, to erode some of his inbred elitism against muggleborns, but evidently that wasn't going to happen. He was the same stuck up, arrogant prick that she remembered from her younger years.

She was still inwardly cursing him when she threw herself into the spare seat next to Ron. The trolley must have just been by, because Ron and Harry were eagerly opening new chocolate frogs and comparing cards, barely noticing Hermione's arrival except for a quick peck on the check from Ron and a wave from Harry. It was Ginny, sitting leaning against Harry and flicking through a book, who noticed her thunderous expression.

"So who is it?"

"Malfoy."

One word was enough to stop the boys in their quest for Agrippa. Both Harry and Ron stared at her, the chocolate frogs forgotten between them.

"What? How could they make that git Head Boy! He shouldn't even be allowed to come back to Hogwarts after all he's done!"

Even though her thoughts ran along similar lines, Hermione couldn't help but defend him. "He's been through a lot Ron, with his father in Azkaban for life now and much of his family estates seized. He's probably changed, I know anyone would in his situation." _Not that he seems to have done_, she added to herself as an afterthought.

Ron splutted indignantly on the frog he was eating. "I'm sorry Hermione, but once a Death Eater always a Death Eater." Hermione sighed and looked at Harry, who avoided her gaze.

"I don't know Hermione…he may have changed, but I don't see it being very likely. Not that I ever think he was properly bad – there were several times he could have seriously hurt any of us and he didn't, however I can't believe he's suddenly a good guy."

Ron may have mumbled something like "Not through lack of trying," but Hermione chose not to hear it.

Hermione rubbed her eyes, feeling very tired suddenly. "You're probably right. He'll be just as unhappy about working with me as I am with him though, we all know how he feels about 'Mudbloods'." She grimaced at the term, before dragging a new book out of her bag and settling down to read it for the rest of the journey, Ron's arm looped comfortably around her. That was one good thing to have come out of the war, she and Ron had finally managed to admit their feelings for each other and were comfortably an item. Sure it wasn't the fairytale as such, no Richard Gere climbing up her fire-escape to rescue her and sweep her off her feet, but real life was never like that anyway. Her and Ron were comfortable, had been friends for so long now that they knew each other inside out and it just made sense for them to fall into the relationship. The summer had passed in a comfortable haze of peace now that the war was over, fragmented sometimes by sadness at the cost.

The compartment fell into silence as the train wound its way through the British countryside on its way to Hogwarts.

-x-x-

Threstrals certainly were unusually, Hermione thought as she helped the other students onto the carriages. It was the first time she had ever seen them, and judging by the horrified faces of some of the younger students it was a first for them as well. She had her hands full keeping everyone calm and ensuring that every carriage went off full to really notice that the Head Boy was doing the same, until they both climbed into the last carriage simultaneously. She had to notice then, because their heads banged together with a crack.

Rubbing her head in pain Hermione couldn't be bothered with an argument when she was so tired anyway, and just stepped back to meekly let Malfoy in ahead of her. His grey eyes flashed slightly but he climbed in with a muttered 'sorry' that Hermione thought she must have imagined and sat staring out of the window away from her. She slipped into the seat furthest from him and they rode to the castle uncomfortably silent.

Being in the last carriage they were the last to enter the Great Hall, except for the first years who were still coming across the lake. Hermione gave a small wave to the Ravenclaw table, where she could see Luna Lovegood dreamily gazing at her, before sliding in the Gryffindor table next to Ron. Malfoy scowled and headed to sit at the opposite side of the hall next to the Slytherins.

Looking around the Gryffindor table, Hermione could see that of the other members of her year only Neville Longbottom had returned to go through it again. There were similar numbers from the other years, looking at the Slytherins she could see that only Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson were there alongside Malfoy. Looking over, she saw that both the Patil twins were at the Ravenclaw table, although Parvati waved when she saw Hermione looking. _I'm not the only Gryffindor girl from my year to come back then_. She knew she would be sharing with Ginny and all the other girls from the year blow – although now she thought about it they weren't all there either and her mind shied away from the reasons why – but it was nice to have a familiar face sharing her dorm. She had never been particularly good friends with any of the girls but anyone was better than nothing.

She was distracted from her thoughts by Professor McGonagall standing up to start the sorting. She watched as the new students were divided neatly into the four houses, and then waited while Professor McGonagall started her speech. Looking at the top table her mouth opened slightly in surprise. She had not expected to see Snape back as a Hogwarts professor. She knew he had been put on trial and pardoned, mostly thanks to Professor McGonagall's and Harry's staunch defence, but she hadn't ever imagined he'd be teaching again. Especially, and a glance down the table confirmed this, Slughorn was still here so he must be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. Snape was sat at one end of the long table, staring at nothing during McGonagall's speech. His head jerked abruptly when the Headmistress said his name.

"I am pleased to announce that Professor Snape has returned as our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this year and will resume his position as head of Slytherin house." There were some murmurs around the great hall at this announcement, and McGonagall hurried quickly on. "There are also some new additions to our teaching staff this year. I am proud to introduce Professor Dante as our new Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor house." There was applause this time, and Hermione craned her neck to get a closer look at the new professor. Professor Dante was a young-looking lady with fiery red hair that made Ginny's look dull by comparison. She had a pale, long face and crystal blue eyes that twinkled as she looked around the room. Catching Hermione's gaze she winked, causing the brunette to blush and look back at her plate. She must have missed McGonagall's other announcements, because suddenly she heard her name called.

"Our Head Boy and Head Girl this year are Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger. As well as their usual duties they have been given the task of arranging several social events throughout the year for students and relatives at Hogwarts, to try to bring out wizarding community together."

This was news to Hermione, and she sat stunned for a moment before realising she should be standing to receive the applause. She glanced over at Malfoy, and saw the familiar scowl on his face as he glared at the new Headmistress. Looking back, Hermione almost thought she saw something that passed as amusement cross the witch's face as she continued with her speech.

"I think all that remains is to welcome our new first years, welcome back our returning students and wish you all a very pleasant and educational year." With that McGonagall sat back down to a round of polite applause, and food started appearing on the tables. Hermione fell onto it hungrily; it was a long time since the pumpkin pasties she'd eaten in the carriage. The great hall quietened, a few conversations filling it with a low level hum of comfortable noise. Hermione smiled happily, it felt like she had come home after a long holiday. She turned to Harry and Ron.

"Aren't you glad you came back now?" Harry looked up and thought for a moment before answering.

"I think I am Hermione, yes. I know I could have gone straight into the auror programme but now that I'm here, I think perhaps I needed a year to get myself back together."

Hermione smiled brightly at him. It had been her persuasion that had brought the pair of them back to school to complete their NEWTs. Admittedly, she'd only really convinced Harry, but the thought of starting the auror programme without his best friend or girlfriend there to keep him company had convinced Ron to join them as well. The promise from the headmistress of helping the new eighth years to study for their future careers alongside their NEWTs had incentivised them further.

Ron made a noise that sounded somewhat like 'hmph' from behind his mouthful of trifle. He wasn't yet pleased to be there, Hermione could tell, but she had every confidence that he would be once he'd settle down. She had missed it terribly in the year they'd been away. She loved learning, but there was also something about Hogwarts that made it special, there were so many happy memories for her.

The castle had not entirely recovered from the war, large sections had been ruled out of bounds and the Hufflepuffs' had needed to find a new common room. The rest of it had been patched up but there were constant reminders of what had taken place, Hermione had noticed even during her short walk to the great hall. However, it still felt like home and as she gazed up at the stars twinkling in the ceiling she felt more at peace than she had done for a very long time.

Dinner ended and Hermione began to help the prefects show the first years where to go. She followed on, only remembering that she was meant to meet with the Professor McGonagall when she was halfway back to the Gryffindor tower. With a gasp she turned and began to run, passing both Harry and Ron. "Meeting, with McGonagall," she panted as she sprinted past them.

"Wait, Hermione…" Harry began, but she had gone. He turned to Ron with a confused expression. "Does she realise she's going the wrong way?"

-x-x-

Hermione crashed into Professor McGonagall's office, already apologising.

"I'm so sorry professor, I was so busy helping the first years I forgot about our meeting."

An unfamiliar figure stood up from her desk, and looked curiously at Hermione. "I'm afraid I don't recollect that we had a meeting."

Hermione's eyes grew wide as she realised she was staring at Professor Dante. The new transfiguration professor was watching her with amusement twinkling in her blue eyes.

"Professor McGonagall…"

"Is the Headmistress now. This is her old office, I believe."

Hermione looked around her, one hand flying to her mouth. "I am so sorry…"

The new teacher just laughed. "The gargoyle's password is 'gummy bears'. Nothing quite like keeping with tradition."

"T-Thank you." Hermione stammered, before fleeing. She felt so stupid, not only had she shown herself up in front of the new professor but she was also going to be doubly late for the meeting with McGonagall.

Eventually she reached the gargoyle who sprang aside at the password. She ran up the stairs and tumbled through the door at the top, nearly bent double to try to remove the stitch from her side.

"So…sorry, professor. I…went to….wrong office…" she panted, trying to get her breath back. She heard a snort from behind her and closed her eyes in embarrassment. Malfoy. Just what she needed right now.

"If you could take a seat, Miss Granger," McGonagall replied, gesturing to the sofa that Malfoy was already sitting on. Hermione sat down, still breathing heavily and trying to stay as far away from the blond as she could. He noticed, and scowled at her as she sat primly, waiting to hear what the headmistress wanted.

"Now I am relying on your support to put in place some events this year to improve the integration between all members of the Hogwarts community. There will be three events in total: a Christmas ball to start and then a further two events in the spring and summer. I would like you to work together to organise the Christmas ball including guests, entertainment, decorations and menu. Are you up to this task?"

"Yes Professor McGonagall," they chorused.

The witch gave them one of her fiercest glares, causing both of them to fidget nervously. "Following the events of the summer I am counting on both of you to overcome your differences and promote unity. You will lead the other years by example and so you will need to start being civil to each other. You can start now by shaking hands."

Hermione and Malfoy shot horrified looks at each other. Shaking herself mentally, Hermione stood up and held her hand out stiffly towards the Slytherin. He just stared from it to her, an almost bewildered expression on his face.

An impatient noise from McGonagall sent him out of his stupor and he jumped up, knocking Hermione's hand as he did so. She rolled her eyes at him and his scowl returned before he briefly touched her hand with his to shake it and then dropped it as though it was on fire. The headmistress sighed. "It is a start. I have converted a classroom into a common room for you so that you have somewhere neutral to go to make arrangements. It will also be somewhere you can study in peace and quiet if you need it. Friends may accompany you, but can only be in the room if you are present. It is behind the portrait of Professor Dumbledore on the fourth floor, near the transfiguration classrooms. Now Mr Malfoy, you may leave. Miss Granger, I have something else to discuss with you."

The blond nodded curtly and disappeared down the stairs while Hermione turned to her former teacher expectantly.

"Miss Granger, as you are aware for 'eighth' years we are offering the opportunity to study vocational courses. I understand you wish to become a healer?"

Hermione nodded eagerly. She had replied almost immediately when she had received the Hogwarts letter offering extra tuition, but hadn't been sure that there was anyone at Hogwarts who would be able to teach her.

She was distracted by the sound of footsteps behind her, and her jaw dropped as Professor Snape appeared through the doorway, his robe billowing as menacingly as it always had. Following on his heels was Professor Dante, and Hermione nearly groaned aloud as she remembered her earlier mistake.

"Severus, Guinevere, perfect timing. I was just asking Miss Granger if she still wished to pursue further studies in healing."

Realising all three teachers were waiting for a response, Hermione cleared her throat nervously. "Yes, I would love to. If you think I'm good enough that it."

Professor McGonagall snorted in a very unladylike manner. "Miss Granger, you have been the top student in your class every year since you first arrived at Hogwarts. Naturally we believe that you are good enough. Professors Snape and Dante have agreed to tutor you privately after dinner three evenings a week. One session will be based on healing potions, one of general healing magic and the third a combined session. I believe they have distributed the tasks accordingly." She paused then and looked to the two teachers.

Professor Snape looked at Hermione and she started a little. His dark eyes were still cold, but there was something else there as well. She almost would have said he looked lost. "I will be tutoring you in healing potions on Monday evenings. Do not be late Miss Granger." With a nod to the headmistress he swept away again, Professor Dante looking at his retreating back with a pensive expression.

"Your other sessions will take place on Wednesdays and Thursdays," Professor McGonagall continued, as though the interlude hadn't occurred. "Professor Dante will tutor you in general healing, and the combined class will involve both professors. I don't think you need me to tell you how much of their time the professors are giving up for you."

"No, of course not Professor McGonagall." Hermione stole another look at the new transfiguration teacher as she said it, and received a warm smiled in return. Inwardly she was relieved, at least with Professor Dante there one of the two sessions with Snape wouldn't be so bad.

"Very well Miss Granger, you may leave." With a wave of her hand, the headmistress dismissed the others. Professor Dante stood back to allow Hermione to go down the stairs first.

"It's good to finally meet you properly Miss Granger," Dante said as they reached the bottom and both walked along it towards the Gryffindor tower. Hermione blushed again in recollection, but her embarrassment was relieved at the professor's chuckle. "We've all done it, don't worry about it." Bright blue eyes turn to regard her as they were about to part ways. "I look forward to working with you, Miss Granger."

"Please, call me Hermione," she mumbled.

"Very well Hermione, I will see you tomorrow in class."

With a sweep of her robes she was gone, and Hermione was left to walk the rest of the way herself. As she went through the portrait hole, she was greeted by an enthusiastic redhead.

"Hermione! What did McGonagall want?"

"Professor McGonagall Ron," Hermione corrected. "She wanted to discuss some of the events she has in mind for the year. She also has found me tutors in healing."

"That's great news Hermione!" Harry called from his seat on the sofa, Ginny lying with her head in his lap. Smiling, Hermione went to join them.

"Yes it is, but it does mean that I will be voluntarily spending time with Professor Snape."

Ron looked shocked, "They can't make you do that?!"

Harry looked more thoughtful than shocked. "How do you feel about that?"

Hermione looked at her friend. "I don't really know. We found out so much last year…I think we've never really known the real Professor Snape. But I don't expect him miraculously to have changed."

Harry smiled a little. "I think it will take time, but he will change. I wrote to him a couple of times over the summer."

"You did what?" Ron was shocked, Hermione was very surprised and even Ginny looked like she hadn't known about it. Harry held up his hands guiltily.

"After learning everything he went through and why, all that information at his trial, I thought I should say thank you. And he replied, and it went from there. It was only a couple of letters and we didn't exactly say much."

Hermione considered. It wouldn't be a surprise if Snape had changed, even if he was still putting on a show as Hogwarts' most disliked professor. Her reverie was interrupted by Ron, stubbornly insisting that "Snape would always be a slimy git to him."

Hermione was a little irritated by that, it wouldn't hurt for Ron to lose some of his prejudices. She didn't want to bring it up though as she didn't need an argument right now, instead she yawned loudly and set everyone else off. They said goodnight hurriedly and separated to get to their dormitories.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" She looked over to see concern in Ginny's eyes as the girls were getting into bed, in the same dormitory for the first time. _It feels nice to have a close female friend_, Hermione decided as she reassured Ginny that she was just tired. She pulled the curtains on her bed shut and stared up at the ceiling, thinking over the events of the day. _It's good to be home_ she thought briefly before sleep overtook her and she slept dreamlessly for the first time in many nights.


	3. Tutorials and Truces

**A/N** – Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this, it's still just getting going but should pick up soon. Constructive comments welcome as ever.

**Disclaimer** – This all belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling, except my OCs.

Tutorials and Truces

The next morning Hermione was rudely woken when the curtains on her four-poster were suddenly pulled apart by the youngest Weasley. She yelped and tried to hide under her pillow but Ginny wasn't going to be deterred that easily.

"You've overslept Hermione! You've missed breakfast and barely have time to get to your class!"

That news spurred Hermione into action, she leapt up and began to frantically pull on her school clothes, not paying much attention to her appearance as she panicked.

"Why didn't you tell me? How could you let me keep sleeping? What if I'd missed some of the class?"

Ginny laughed as she slung her bag over one shoulder. "For the first time in ages Hermione you were actually _sleeping_. I wasn't going to wake you up before I had to."

Hermione blushed, she had assumed that she'd managed to keep her insomnia to herself, but given that she'd been sharing a room with Ginny almost continuously since the end of the war maybe it wasn't such a surprise that the younger girl had noticed. Lost in thought for a moment, she barely reacted to Ginny leaving until the girl coughed, indicating she should also be moving. Gasping, Hermione followed her quickly all the way to Transfiguration.

The girls made it just in time, Ginny suavely slipping into a seat next to Harry while Hermione adjusted her skirt – typically facing back to front – and thumped into the chair next to Ron. She had just time to register a smirk on a pale face (_why does he think he's so much better than me, just because I overslept and didn't have time to dress properly_) before their new professor swept into the room, her red hair bouncing in effortless curls down her back. Hermione looked at it in envy _why can't I ever get my hair to bounce like that? All I have is a frizzy mess…_

"Good morning class," Professor Dante said, perching herself on the edge of the large wooden desk in a way that Professor McGonagall would never have done. "For the first part of this year we are going to concentrate on transfiguring ourselves." There was a gasp from the class at this, they have never touched on self transfiguration before.

The professor had them working in pairs, trying to change the colour of their hair. It was so much harder to do the transfiguration on themselves than on others, and it took an immense amount of concentration to hold it. Hermione had nearly made hers pink when she was assaulted by the memory of Tonks' bubblegum-pink hair, and she lost concentration causing her hair to return to its normal brown shade as she choked back a sob. Apparently the rest of the class were having similar problems, and by the end of the lesson they were all exhausted but no closer to changing hair colour. Dante set them all an essay on why self-transfigurations were so difficult, and told them all she expected them to have made some progress by their next session. It had become apparent that although the new professor had laughing eyes and a friendly smile when it came to strictness in her classes she was McGonagall incarnate.

Following transfiguration Hermione headed to arithmancy, where she was given even more homework, before heading down to the great hall for lunch. She ate with her arithmancy book propped open on the table, already starting the essay so that it didn't pile up too much. She was joined shortly afterwards by Ron and Harry.

"Working already Hermione?" Ron asked, staring at her book.

"I need to keep up Ron," she replied calmly without looking up, grabbing another sandwich absently. Ron rolled his eyes at Harry and then sat down next to her.

"So, want to hang out this evening?"

"I can't, Ron," Hermione reminded him gently, "I have the first of my healing tutorials." As she spoke a single tawny owl swooped through the great hall, depositing a note in the centre of Hermione's book. Surprised, she opened it.

'_Miss Granger,_

_Your first lesson in healing potions will take place this evening in my office. Do not be late.'_

Harry read the note over her shoulder. "He didn't even sign it." He shook his head in exasperation before returning to his soup.

Ron was staring at his plate of food. "If you're taking all these extra classes for healing, what with out auror ones, we won't have any time together."

"I know Ron," Hermione replied sympathetically, placing her hand on his arm. "But we'll sort something out." She returned to her half eaten sandwich, before realising the second part of what Ron had told her and squeaked. "Wait, auror classes? You didn't tell me!"

Ron ducked his head to hide his embarrassed grin. "Harry and I got letters this morning. We'll start auror classes on Tuesday, with a different teacher every week. Sometimes there'll even be visiting experts doing some special classes at the weekend."

"That's _great_!" Hermione cried enthusiastically, hugging her boyfriend tightly. "I'm so pleased for you!"

Ron looked pretty pleased with himself too, as he patted her on the back. "Yeah, well it's nothing really, but it will be nice to get ahead in our training for next year."

-x-x-

The afternoon was spent in potions with Professor Slughorn, and went by very quickly. They were all beginning to realise that there was a lot of things they needed to cover in this final year in order to pass their NEWTs, and all the teachers were pushing them hard and setting a lot of homework. Once the lesson was over Hermione, Harry and Ron went back to the Gryffindor common room to work on their transfiguration essays before dinner. Or at least, Hermione did – Harry and Ron were busy discussing the best date to arrange quidditch trials.

"Shouldn't you be getting on with some work," she asked, glaring at them as they began discussing some of the manoeuvres performed by Ireland's chasers at this year's world cup (where Ireland defended their title).

Ron rolled his eyes at her. "It's the first day back, 'Mione. We've got loads of time to do that essay."

Harry looked nervously at the witch. "Actually Ron, I seem to remember putting it off last time too and it didn't end well. Maybe we should do some work." He sat down next to Hermione on the sofa and began thumbing through a textbook while she regarded him with a mixture of surprise and approval before returning to her own work. With a grumpy sigh Ron slumped down in a chair and picked up a book as well, flicking through the pages absently.

For an hour the trio sat working, until Ron realised it was dinner time and dragged Harry and Hermione away. They ate quickly, Harry and Ron keen to start planning the quidditch team and Hermione nervous about her first healing tutorial. It didn't help that Snape would be presiding over it, she had always felt nervous under his tutelage and she knew he thought she was an 'insufferable know-it-all'. Or at least, he had. Whether the Professor Snape who had returned to Hogwarts this year was the same as the one she had known so far still remained to be seen.

-x-x-

Her first impressions as she entered his office nervously didn't help. Although he had now taken over the Defence Against the Dark Arts office, it still seemed to resemble the dungeon somehow. He wasn't there, so she began to look around. The interior of this office had changed many times since Hermione had been at school here, and it's latest incarnation included lots of vials of potions in many colours lining the walls, with some interesting-yet-menacing looking instruments that she didn't want to know the use of finding spaces between the books on the shelves. She was trying to work out the use of one particularly painful looking implement when she realised she wasn't alone.

Snape was looming behind her, his long hair falling forwards into his face and his dark eyes glaring at her. Hermione suddenly realised that looking around his office was an invasion of his privacy, given that he hadn't been there or given her permission. She stood nervously waiting for the reprimand, and was even more surprised when it didn't come. Instead, he turned on the spot, causing his robes to billow behind him and snapped "Follow me," as he strode back out of the office. Gulping, Hermione did so without a word, trotting to keep up with his long strides.

"Where are we going Professor," she gasped out as they descended one of the many staircases.

"To one of the potion classrooms," came the terse reply. "You did not expect to be brewing healing potions upstairs?" His voice was laden with sarcasm, and Hermione bristled with the unfairness. Of course she would expect to work upstairs, that was where he had arranged to meet her. They had just entered the potions room when another thought struck her.

"Why isn't Professor Slughorn teaching me healing potions, sir?"

Snape scowled at her as began removing some ingredients from a cupboard at the back of the room and gestured for her to start setting up a cauldron. "He has other commitments that prevent him from tutoring you, and so naturally the honour has fallen on me and the _delightful_ Professor Dante." The sarcasm again dripped off his words, and Hermione paused in her work and looked in surprise. Snape didn't always have the best opinion of the other teachers but he usually at least treated them with respect. She was about to ask him about it when he spun around, glaring again. "I don't believe I asked you to stop what you were doing."

Hermione jumped, blushed and began setting out the knives again, silently fuming. These sessions were not going to be fun if she was going to be endlessly treated like a child. Technically she wasn't even school age anymore, and it was because she cared about her education that she had actually come back. Why he couldn't then give her even the smallest amount of credit and actually recognise her abilities? It was unfair and unjust, but that was nothing new coming from Snape. She was so caught up I her reverie that she hadn't realised he had spoken to her until his tapping foot made her realise he was expecting an answer.

"I…I'm sorry Professor, I didn't catch that."

"You could at least pretend to be paying attention Granger, given that I am giving up so much time for this."

"I'm sorry sir, it won't happen again."

With a final glare, Snape resumed. "I asked you what you knew of the Wolfsbane potion."

"The Wolfsbane?" Hermione thought for a moment, trying to think of everything she knew. It was the potion that Lupin had used monthly in order to control his werewolf during the full moon, and she knew that although it was effective it was known for its draining side effects. She repeated this all to Snape, who stood and watched her. When she finished he nodded curtly.

"The side-effects are prohibitive for the Wolfsbane, and if its use is to become widespread will need to be eradicated. In these sessions we will look at the potion, and try to modify it to reduce these effects."

Hermione gasped. She had thought that they would just be studying the potions, not looking at how to change them. This was higher level work than she was used to, and although she was excited the thought made her extremely nervous as well.

Snape took in her shocked expression. "If I were simply going to teach you how to make potions then you may as well just take Professor Slughorn's remedial class," he patronised. "I was led to believe you were an intelligent witch, so close your mouth and start brewing the Wolfsbane."

Hermione jumped into action, nearly running over to where Snape had deposited the ingredients for the complex potion. She knew how to make it, she had spent time researching it before, but was relieved to see that the instructions were also on the table. She spent the next couple of hours brewing, with sarcastic comments from Snape interrupting where he felt it necessary. Although she could have dispensed with the sarcasm, she had to admit that she learnt a lot just in the one session. Snape was very knowledgeable and she tried to pay attention – by the end it almost felt as though some of the irritation had left his voice and the sarcasm was there more for habit than because he was actually annoyed. Eventually the potion was left to boil for a week, and she was finally dismissed from the dungeon. Wandering back through the castle she realised that it must be long after the curfew, judging by the silence in all the corridors. Irrationally she really hoped that no one found her out of bed – as Head Girl she technically was allowed out after curfew, but Filch didn't always see it that way.

She reached the peace of her dorm room safely, and quickly slipped into bed. _This year is going to be tiring, even by my standards_ she thought wryly as she slowly slipped into sleep for another dreamless night,

-x-x-

The next morning she managed to wake up in time for breakfast, walking downstairs with Ginny, Harry and Ron. Ron had his arm draped around her waist loosely as he was telling her all about his quidditch session the evening before. Hermione nodded and smiled in all the required places, but was really looking around to see who else had returned. It seemed that only about half the former sixth and seventh years had returned to take their NEWTs, although she believed that more of her year would turn up about a month before the exams to attend revision sessions. As she was looking around she was distracted by a scowling blond sat watching them from the Slytherin tables, so much so that she missed something Ron had said.

"So what do you think Hermione?"

"Um…I think it will all work out fine." Ron looked at her slightly strangely but accepted the answer, while Ginny seemed to be trying very hard not to laugh. Ron immediately continued with his tirade that 'eighth' years couldn't play for their house quidditch teams this year – it was deemed that the younger house members should be given their turn. They had only found out the night before when they had gone to speak to McGonagall after dinner about the team trials.

"…but we weren't even here last year, honestly the one thing I was looking forward to all summer, the best thing about coming back and we can't play!"

Hermione rolled her eyes as she sat down at the long table and began helping herself to breakfast. "It's NEWT year Ron, you'll need to be studying most of the time anyway."

Ron's expression suggested that he didn't think it was much consolation and they fell into silence. Eventually Harry, who had until that point been deep in conversation with Ginny, leant over to speak to her. "How will you manage with all your tutorials, Hermione? Ron and I only have one evening a week to go to, you have three."

"I guess I'll find a way," Hermione replied, biting her bottom lip. "I have to somehow."

"You'll never have any free time!" Ron was particularly unhappy about this – he hadn't followed his girlfriend back to school to find out that he wouldn't be spending any time with her.

"It's only for one year Ron," she replied soothingly, placating him slightly before turning back to her breakfast. She finished quickly and rose to get some work done before her first class, not noticing that a pair of grey eyes followed her out of the hall.

-x-x-

It was safe to say that the last couple of years had not gone well for Malfoy. Backed into a corner, both by his parents and by some unfortunate decisions he had made when younger, he had found himself fighting in a war that he no longer believed in. True, he still held to his beliefs on the sanctity of pure wizarding blood, but he had been horrified by Voldemort's unrelenting quest for power and had begun to wish he had not been in the war at all.

Of course he had continued to fight, he was in no doubt that he and his parent's lives were forfeit unless he did. When Voldemort had fallen, he had felt immeasurable relief. It had been short-lived though, as his whole family had been arrested and tried soon after.

It was this, combined with the knowledge that his mother had lied to the Dark Lord, thereby bringing about his destruction, which had caused Malfoy to reconsider his life and decisions until that point. His father was in Azkaban and would be indefinitely, his home had been sold and they had moved into a much smaller property in the next county. His pride had taken a severe knock at this, but he began to consider whether any of it was really as important anymore.

He had many regrets, mostly surrounding bad decisions. He should have befriended Potter from the start, even if he always had the blood traitor and mudblood in tow, because then he may have had another option during the war. His only hope now was that he could still make some amends, thus patching some of his family's reputation. Granger had always been the least hostile and it may be possible to worm his way into her good opinion.

It was for that reason that he had been pleased when he had been assigned Head Boy, he knew Granger was a shoe in for Head Girl and it would give them opportunities to work together. He had been willing to make a truce in the head compartment, but when they actually came face to face he suddenly found himself vividly picturing one of the last times he had seen her, lying on the floor of Malfoy Manor being tortured by his aunt. At the time he hadn't been able to do anything to help, but it didn't make him feel less guilty. He had been severely reprimanded afterwards by his father for not identifying Harry immediately, and thus allowing them to escape. The next thought had been almost as unwelcome – the long summer recovering from the war had obviously treated her well and she was looking better than he had seen her before. He couldn't deceive himself any more, she was really quite pretty.

The combination of these thoughts had seen him frozen in place, and she had impatiently started to organise the prefects before leaving in a mood. So much for reconciliation. He was furious with himself for what he deemed to be a failure, it had been the perfect opportunity to make a good impression and he had stood there like a goon. His mood had deteriorated after that, so much so that the scowl was nearly permanent by the time that they had met McGonagall. She hadn't even arrived early, as he was sure she would, so he didn't get any opportunity to talk to her then either.

He was trying to think of new ways to approach her now as he watched her retreating back. He knew that they had several classes together – in fact she was in all of his classes. Maybe he could find a reason to ask for her help on one of his essays…no, that wouldn't do. A Malfoy would never ask a muggleborn for help with work. He would have to start coming up with ideas for the Christmas party in order to present them to her.

It never crossed his mind that he may subconsciously have an ulterior motive to talk to her.


	4. Elements

**A/N** – Hi, sorry this has been quite late. I hope everyone who is reading it is enjoying it, still my first HP fanfic so please be gentle with it! Thanks to those who have reviewed.

**Disclaimer** – This all belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling, except my OCs.

Elements

Hermione's next two days were just as busy as the first had been. She was taking the maximum possible number of NEWTs – seven – and so she had no free periods to catch up on her work. She spent almost all her free time trying to finish the assignments set by the professors, much to Ron's chagrin. Wednesday saw her eating dinner with a potions book on the table, frantically trying to read about the Wolfsbane. Although she knew that today's tutorial was being taken by Professor Dante and not Snape, she wanted to make sure that she had done as much preparation as possible.

As soon as dinner ended she gathered everything up and headed towards Dante's office. She knocked gently, entering as a voice called from within.

Professor Dante was sitting at her desk marking papers, the remnants of her dinner sat on a small silver tray that had been pushed to one side. Her red hair was tied back into a loose ponytail, only one wavy strand framing her face. She smiled as Hermione entered, and gestured for her to sit on one of two chairs place near a table in the centre of the room. All of the other desks had been moved aside for their tutorial session.

Hermione sat nervously, she still wasn't sure what to make of the new transfiguration teacher and wanted to make a good impression. Of course, she wanted to make a good impression with all the teachers but most had taught her for years and knew that she was the top of every class. A new professor meant a new person to try to impress, and something about this particular professor made her try especially hard. The professor in question elegantly walked over and pulled the other chair closer to Hermione, so that they were sat across the corner of the table from each other.

"You won't need any of those," Dante informed her, indicating all the books she was busy unpacking. "You will just need a wand."

Hermione pulled out her wand and sat waiting for the professor to begin, The older witch scrutinised her young protégée for a moment, before leaning forwards towards her. "What do you know of elemental magic?"

Hermione was thrown, this was not the topic she was expecting to discuss. "I…I know that it is a very old form of magic that no one practices anymore, and many believe it is a sham magic. At best, it was probably a very weak form of magic compared to what we study nowadays."

Dante considered her words, pressing her fingers into a steeple shape. "I am impressed you have heard of it at all. Most do not know about elemental magic now, as you said it has been deemed a sham magic. Of course, its lack of favour could also be related to the fact that an ability in elemental magic depends on the individual witch or wizard, and does not necessarily run in families. For this reason, the pureblood elites have very little regard for it."

This made sense to Hermione, until very recently old pureblood families such as the Malfoys had basically controlled the ministry, and had done for a very long time. That had all changed now of course, since the fall of Voldemort, but it would take time to recover from the century-long elitism.

Dante smiled at Hermione as she processed this. "The truth is, Hermione, elemental magic does exist, and can be very powerful."

Hermione nodded slowly. "I'm sorry professor, but how does this relate to healing?"

A wide grin split the older witch's face. "I'm very pleased you asked. As you know, Professor Snape will be tutoring you on how to use potions in healing. He is one of the few people that regularly invent new potions, and it is this understanding of the subtleties of the art that we are hoping he can pass on to you. Strictly speaking you do not need to be able to do it, but it could help you save lives in the future and so is worth exploring."

Hermione nodded again, although some of this information was new. She hadn't realised that Snape actually created new potions; it took a very skilled potions master to do that. Her respect for the dour man increased with this knowledge.

"I will not be teaching you potions," Dante continued. "I am going to focus on a different aspect of healing. This is where the elemental magic I discussed is relevant."

Hermione leant forwards, eager to understand how the near-mythical elemental magic fit into her healing tutorials. Dante noted her enthusiasm and the corner of her mouth twitched into a half smile. "It so happens that not all elemental magic is lost. However, in order to be able to learn and perform elemental magic the witch or wizard has to be naturally very powerful in the given element. I am an elemental witch, and can therefore pass on my knowledge provided the recipient is strong enough." Hermione had been excited by the prospect of learning this elemental magic, she _had_ heard of it before and never quite dismissed it out of hand. But the fact that it required a naturally strong witch or wizard to perform deflated her enthusiasm. It wasn't that she wasn't a good witch, but she knew she wasn't naturally powerful. She relied on hard work to achieve her goals, coupled with intelligence.

Dante saw her dejected look and smiled gently. "Luckily for you, Miss Granger, you have a strong element within you." Hermione's eyes flew up to this, as though daring her teacher to tell her it was a lie. Dante held her gaze with her own. "Your element is fire, which is in itself rare. Also, for your benefit, it allows me to teach you a form of healing that is also very rare as it relies on elemental magic."

Hermione was nearly bouncing out of her seat with excitement on hearing this. Dante smiled at her reaction and placed her hand on the table between them. "I would like you to place your hand in mine, Miss Granger. The first step to using your power is to identify that it is there." When Hermione complied, and their hands were resting together, the professor continued. "I need you to try to feel inside your hand. You may find this easier with your eyes closed. You need to try to identify the fire that runs through you, and your hand is a good place to start. You will need to concentrate, and you should be able to feel a warmth inside."

Hermione closed her eyes as requested, and concentrated on her hand. She couldn't feel anything other than the usual – she could feel the cool air of the room in her palm, her professor's hand holding the back. But nothing else.

"Try to feel within your hand, Hermione, not at what is outside it. I'm going to give you some help finding what you are looking for."

Hermione concentrated again on her hand. For a moment she couldn't feel anything different, but then a warmth spread through her hand and she felt a flickering pulse that spread from her palm into her fingers. She gasped and lost the connection, but it had been there. She looked up at her professor with wonder in her eyes.

Dante smiled at her. "You felt it then. Now you have to concentrate on finding it without my help, and holding it for longer." She withdrew her hand, leaving Hermione's resting palm-up on the table. "Now try again."

Once she knew what she was looking for, it was much easier for Hermione to find it. This time she managed without the other witch's help, and followed the heat into all of her fingers, feeling it separate into delicate and graceful streams. She dropped it soon, the concentration required to hold on to the fire too much to sustain for long. She gathered herself and tried again.

"It will be easier the more you practise." Dante explained, after Hermione lost it again later during the session. "You are tired now, and so your concentration is waning. I have a few questions for you before you leave though. Why do you think I am teaching you this?"

Hermione thought for a while before answering. "I don't know professor. Does everybody have that inside of them? Is it because my element is fire?"

"It is because your element is fire that you can feel it like that, but yes everyone has it inside of them. It is necessary."

A few things fell into place in Hermione's brain – the delicate, interwoven strands, the pulsing nature of the heat. "It's blood!"

Dante smiled happily at Hermione. "Well done! I can't give house points for tutoring sessions but that normally would have earned them. You perceived that very quickly!"

"So I can 'feel' blood? Can I do it to everyone or just myself?"

"That we will discuss tomorrow, but yes you can 'feel' blood. Blood is the fire of the body, in a way, and you can sense it using your elemental power. I think it is time to call it a night, but we will continue this tomorrow with Professor Snape."

Hermione clamped her mouth back shut, struggling to hold back the myriad of questions that were circulating in her mind. Dante stood and moved back over to her desk, which Hermione took as a sign that she was dismissed. She slipped from the classroom, but not before receiving an encouraging smile from the professor as she went.

She was back much earlier than after her previous tutorial, and found Ron, Harry and Ginny sat around a small table in the common room doing their transfiguration essay for the next day. She sat down on a cushion next to them, pulling her potions book from her bag again to read about the wolfsbane. She wasn't left to read in peace for long though, she soon realised that all three of her friends had stopped writing and were staring at her.

"Well?" Ron demanded, pushing his transfiguration to one side.

"Well what?"

"How was your first tutorial with Dante?"

"Professor Dante, Ron. And it was really good, I learnt some new things."

"Did she get you stitching skin together? Or something like that?" Harry asked, leaning forwards over the table towards her.

Hermione considered how to reply. She cast a silent _muffliato_ to avoid being overheard by the rest of the room. "What do you know about elemental magic?"

The reactions of her friends was varied. Harry just looked confused, Ginny surprised and Ron sceptical.

"Elemental magic?" He scoffed. "That's just a story they tell children about, it doesn't exist."

Hermione huffed and glared at him. "Many of the things I was told about as children, such as unicorns and giants, do exist. Why can't this as well?" Ron was slightly taken aback for a moment, and it gave Hermione the space to continue. "The professor taught me a few basics about elemental magic, and then said I should be able to use it to heal. Apparently my element is fire. That is what we concentrated on."

Ron snorted loudly, and it took a lot of Hermione's willpower not to glare at him again. _Why can't he just believe me for once?_ Instead she looked at Harry, whose face was still a mask of confusion.

"Um…what is elemental magic?" Harry was looking between Hermione and Ron, rather apprehensively. He knew what disagreements between the pair could be like.

To his surprise it was Ginny that answered. "Elemental magic is rumoured to be a very old type of magic that is innate to witches and wizards. The strength depends solely on the individual, which is unusual. It was always thought that the strength of a witch or wizard is passed down through families, hence the fixation on the purity of blood, but with elemental magic it is always random. Also, with elemental magic each individual has a dominant element, and if what Hermione says is correct and hers is fire it makes her very rare. Air and earth are far more common, water rarer and fire nearly non-existent."

Hermione gaped at Ginny, vaguely recognising that Ron was as well. The younger girl just shrugged and returned to her essay. "I never thought they were just children's stories, so I read up on it when I was younger."

Ron went red and muttered something about needing to get the essay done as well, ending that conversation. Harry still looked interestedly at Hermione. "So how can you tell what element you are?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "Professor Dante just told me. She was showing me how to find the power inside me today."

"Could you find the power inside me?"

Hermione frowned, she hadn't thought of that. "I could give it a go. Can I have your hand?"

The two redheads looked up again with interest, Ron trying to disguise it but Ginny openly watching as Hermione took Harry's hand in the same way that Dante has taken hers earlier. She closed her eyes and this time tried to feel inside Harry's hand instead of her own. For a while she couldn't get anything, and heard a slight snort that she suspected had come from Ron. This gave her the determination to go further, and she concentrated more until eventually she found a slight flicker. It wasn't the same as hers, it felt cooler and calmer, but she didn't have long to look at it before Harry jerked his hand away.

In surprise Hermione pulled hers away too, looking up at Harry's green eyes as he waved his hand in the air. "What's the matter?"

"It's hot!" Hermione's mouth opened slightly in surprise and alarm, watching Harry blowing on his palm now to cool it.

"I'm really sorry Harry, I had no idea it would hurt you."

"It's not too bad, Hermione. It just surprised me more than anything."

Ginny looked from one to the other with interest. "If you're fire and Harry isn't, it makes sense that it would be hot. Did you see what Harry was?"

"I didn't look long enough to be sure, and I don't know what the other elements feel like, but it felt cooler, more moist, greener. If I had to guess I'd say…earth. But for all I know it could be water. It's definitely not fire and it didn't feel like I'd expect air to."

Harry, once he had stopped cooling his hand down, looked impressed. "That's pretty cool Hermione. What will you be doing with it?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "We got as far as realising that I could see it. It takes a lot of concentration."

"Well you'll learn more tomorrow."

"Yes, but Professor Snape will be there too. I doubt we'll be doing anymore elemental magic."

Harry shrugged at that and also returned to his essay, leaving Hermione to continue reading up on the Wolfsbane and wondering how on earth she could try to improve it.

-x-x-

The next evening Hermione entered the transfiguration classroom to find both Snape and Dante talking softly near one of the desks. They both looked up with she came in, Dante with a wide smile and Snape looking more annoyed than usual. Dante stood up from where she had been perched on the desk, and with a wave of her wand caused a table and three chairs to arrange themselves in the middle of the room in a similar manner to the evening before. Dante immediately sat on one of them, while Snape took the seat furthest from her, a scowl still on his face. Hermione sat in the seat between them, feeling some trepidation about getting between them. It was clear to her that the surly defence teacher _really_ didn't like the bubbly transfiguration one, and she wondered whose idea it was for the two of them to work together to teach her healing.

"Today we're going to try using your power to sense other people, in this case me," Dante began, eliciting a further scowl from Snape and concern from Hermione.

"Um, professor, I tried that yesterday with Harry and I hurt him."

Dante looked mildly impressed. "Did you? Well you won't hurt me, but to stop the heat of your element building up too much you need to very gently feel them… if you take my hand you can try it on me. But as I said, you won't hurt me so you don't need to worry about trying too hard."

Hermione took the older woman's hand, trying to concentrate on her palm as she had with Harry, but not as fiercely this time. Almost immediately she picked up the elemental magic running through the hand, and realised with a start that Dante's element was also fire based on the flickering, energetic flow. It seemed much, much stronger than Hermione's and she found it easy to find and follow it, allowing her to listen to what her professor was telling her at the same time.

"You've managed to find my power, but now you need to filter out the magic until you're left with the blood underneath."

Hermione concentrated hard on her task, it was difficult as the teacher possessed so much fire in her system, but eventually she felt the low pulse underneath the fire. She tried to strip away all the fire from the pulse, eventually leaving just a small flicker that ran along the blood vessel. No sooner had she managed it than her concentration broke and she lost everything completely, finding herself back in the transfiguration classroom with sweat running down her face from her exertions.

"Well done," Dante said approvingly. "The more you do it, the easier it will become. Now, take a break." She whisked three glasses over to the table, each containing pumpkin juice. Dante selected one and drank it quickly, before indicating that the others should help themselves. Once Hermione had sat back and relaxed with the drink, Dante explained the purpose of the task.

"If you can feel a person's blood you can do many things easily that would take a normal healer much longer, hence why being a strong elemental witch is so advantageous. You will be able to heal cuts, stem blood loss, find the source of internal bleeding – all by feeling the blood flow around the body and having a good grasp of anatomy. On that note, there are some muggle books on my desk that you may want to read up on so that you do learn anatomy."

Hermione nodded as she looked over to the desk and saw a stack of four thick books. Her eyes lit up at the sight, before she turned back to Dante.

The first thing she noticed was that Dante was very pale, and had become increasingly so throughout her small speech. Hermione felt a stab of alarm. "Are you ok Professor?"

Dante smiled at the girl. "This brings us nicely to another use of your power. Professor Snape has provided a poison that I have just drunk with my juice. I want you to look at me again, and see if you can detect any of the poison ingredients in my system."

Hermione's eyes opened wide in shock, and she grabbed at the professor's hand to try to find the poison before it could do any serious damage. She found the fire more easily this time, and stripped the magic away quickly. Looking at the blood flow in the hand, she could soon see something that didn't look quite right. Something that looked like…

"Nightshade! Nightshade is the main ingredient!"

She looked at her defence professor, and was surprised to see he was scowling, but he nodded slightly in her direction and passed a small vial to Dante who drank it eagerly, making a face at the taste of it.

"So now you see why it's so advantageous. As you learn to control your power and gain familiarity with potions and their ingredients you'll be able to detect the ingredients for increasingly complicated potions and poisons, and also be able to devise antidotes and cures. You will also be able to feel the effect of curses, something we will work on in due course."

Hermione was amazed at the possibilities that her new power gave her. She would be able to help so many people! And perhaps she may even be able to begin to heal herself too.

She was startled from her reverie by Dante standing and stretching. She looked at a large clock on the wall – _wait, a muggle clock? But electricity doesn't work in Hogwarts!_ – and smiled as she stifled a yawn. "Time to leave I think, it's just gone curfew and we've covered a lot tonight. Hermione, I'll see you in class on Monday. Professor Snape, could I have a word?"

"Goodnight," Hermione called as she left the room, trotting down the corridor until she found herself in front of the Fat Lady. Muttering an apology for waking her up, she slipped into the Gryffindor common room and up into her bed. Before sleeping, she tried to find her power again, but this time focussed on her chest. She gasped when she found her power there – her heart almost looked as though it was a star placed in her centre. Drawing back she smiled to herself, it had become easier and easier to find her elemental magic and she had only found out about it yesterday! This rate, she would be able to harness its full potential soon. With that thought she fell happily into a dreamless sleep, the only noise in the dormitory the gently snoring of one of her roommates.

-x-x-

Snape watched Hermione leave the classroom before turning back to Dante, a scowl on his face. He shifted slightly to relieve some of the discomfort he felt in his side – the snake bites had mostly healed but still ached, particularly after a long day of teaching. He thought back briefly to that night in the shrieking shack. He was dying, he knew he was, but then instead of dying he found himself in a hospital bed. It had taken time for him to heal as the snake's venom stopped most conventional medical treatment working. He was amazed that he had survived at all, but then to top it all off he had gone on trial and somehow been aquitted. McGonagall and Potter and testified for him, and he had been given a probation period of two years where he was to remain as a teacher under McGonagall's gaze, following which he would get a full pardon dependent on her reports. In all honestly he was thankful for it – he had never really expected to survive past the end of the war and he didn't know what to do now. For the time being he focussed on teaching and recovering. The one infuriating thing was that, having shown Potter all his memories, the boy had insisted on writing to him. He had sent some very short messages back to try to deter the boy, but it seemed to make him friendlier than ever. Maybe he should try a stronger hint next time.

This thought brought him to the slender, younger woman walking around her office in front of him. This was the other thing he was less than happy about. He also felt as though her cheerfulness was in bad taste, after everything that had happened in Hogwarts the spring previously. He had tried to avoid her as much as possible since she first arrived, with a large smile on her face and blue eyes that seemed to look right through him. He had failed spectacularly, she had tried to seek him out and didn't seem to take his less-than-subtle hints, so maybe he would have to be more unpleasant until she left him alone. But then they'd been paired together to teach the know-it-all Granger (though he had to admit, when in individual sessions he had appreciated her intelligence, it made a nice change from his usual classes) and now he couldn't avoid the transfiguration professor.

He watched her red curls swing around as she grabbed a book from her desk and was so distracted that for a moment he didn't react to the fact that she was holding the book out to him. Focussing he snatched it off her with a snarl. _Why does she have to be so infuriating?_

"That's a book on the use of elemental magic in potion brewing. You may find it useful as we're going to be teaching Hermione together, as it's been a very long time since it has been widely used. You can keep it, I don't need it anymore."

Snape looked at the book he was holding. It was very old, and he guessed very rare. He would also guess that for both these reasons it was very valuable. For the woman to be giving him this… it was more that he had been given for a while. He looked up at her in surprise, probably the first time he had ever looked at her without guarding his expression, and found himself staring straight into the blue eyes he tried so hard to avoid. He was lost in those eyes for a second, before Dante straightened and raised an eyebrow in a look she could only have copied from himself. He stammered his thanks, grabbed the book and swept regally from the room, all the while hoping that she hadn't noticed his reaction.

As he stalked back to his room, he realised where he had seen those eyes before and stopped in shock. Dumbledore! _He must have something to do with this…_ he thought angrily as he resumed stomping, _he always is involved somehow_.


	5. The Snow Queen

**A/N** – I would like to point out that this will _eventually_ become a Dramione – but we all know how complicated their relationship is, and so it will take time to get there. Please bear with me, due to the holidays I haven't been able to write as much, so the updates are getting a little slower! As always, reviews welcome and much appreciated.

**Disclaimer** – This all belongs to JK Rowling, except my OCs.

The Snow Queen

Friday dinner saw the 'golden trio', complete with Ginny and Neville, sat around the Gryffindor table excitedly planning for the weekend. Hermione had her diary out in front of her, and she was scheduling homework sessions as well as periods to practice her elemental magic. Luckily much of the work they were covering in defence against the dark arts, charms and runes she was already very familiar with – a year spent with Harry and Ron on the run had taught her about the first two, and she had also read up on runes when trying to understand the hallowes. This meant that she did actually have some free time, and planned to dedicate it to working on the wolfsbane and the elemental magic.

Harry and Ron were busy discussing plans to go to Hogsmeade next to her, as McGonagall had stated that morning that the 'eighth' years, as they were technically not of school age anymore, could leave the castle whenever they wished to. Ginny was not impressed by this; she was actually a seventh year and so couldn't accompany them. Hermione was vaguely listening to their argument while she made her plans, but was interrupted by Ron.

"Fancy heading to Hogsmeade tomorrow, Hermione?"

She looked up to see Ron gazing at her hopefully. She dithered, torn between actually spending time with her boyfriend and completing her plan. Ron's expression made up her mind. "I guess I could spend some time in Hogsmeade in the afternoon, I can go to the library in the morning."

Ron's smile was enough to justify her decision, and she finished dinner happily. However, as she was about to leave to head to the library and make a start on her homework, her good mood was ruined in one word.

"Granger."

She would know that voice anywhere. Sighing, she turned around to look into grey eyes that were closer than she expected. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"McGonagall wants a report on our ideas for the Christmas dance on Monday."

"Monday!" Hermione panicked, thinking of her already busy weekend. "How am I meant to get any ideas together in three days?"

"Relax Granger," Malfoy drawled, "It is meant to be a joint project, or had you forgotten already?"

Hermione hadn't forgotten, but she had assumed that Malfoy wouldn't be interested in working together on it. "No, I…"

"I'll be in our common room after breakfast." And with that he sauntered off, leaving her staring after him in bewilderment. She then cursed as she realised that her plan to hit the library the next day was now thwarted. She couldn't let Malfoy do it himself – the ferret would almost certainly try to take all the credit and show her up. Irritated she headed straight for the library to continue working on her assignments, scowling to herself all the time.

-x-x-

The next morning Hermione found herself waving goodbye to Harry and Ron, who were heading to Hogsmeade first thing, before walking to the fourth floor to try to find her Heads common room. She hadn't used it yet – she was comfortable in the Gryffindor common room and hadn't found it necessary to find somewhere else to work. Eventually she found the portrait of Dumbledore, who smiled genially at her before swinging forwards to reveal a large room behind.

The room was large, with big windows that looked out towards the forbidden forest. It was beautifully decorated in white with gold trimmings, a large fireplace was in one of the walls with a white marble surround. Some watercolour landscapes were dotted about on the walls, small figures of livestock and wildlife moving sedately throughout the frames. A golden chandelier lit the room, with candles attached to the walls to provide extra light into the corners. The wooden floor gleamed, and a large rug was placed in the centre with some sofas and tables dotted around in a classical style, all white fabric and pale wooden carvings. _McGonagall's outdone herself_ Hermione thought as she looked around at the room that had previously been a classroom.

Malfoy wasn't there yet, but some books were spread on a small coffee table suggesting that he had been here before. Hermione settled into a large, wingbacked chair and pulled open her potions book while she waited. She soon lost herself in it, losing track of time and the reason why she was there.

The sound of the large portrait swinging open made her jump, and Malfoy scowled as he saw the flash of fear that was momentarily in her eyes. He couldn't blame her for being scared of him – after all, he had been a witness that day in the former Malfoy Manor (even if it had sickened him) and she had no reason to trust him. However, he needed to get into her good graces and so decided to make an effort.

"Morning, Granger."

"Malfoy," Hermione replied, nodding her head slightly, trying to disguise her momentary alarm. Ever since the war she had been particularly jumpy – she was very good at hiding it but sometimes was caught offguard. She indicated the rest of the room around her. "This is a beautiful room."

In reply Malfoy just grunted, flinging himself down onto a small white sofa that was at right angles to Hermione's chair. He kicked off a pair of boots he was wearing and put his feet up, causing Hermione to raise an eyebrow in surprise. Malfoy smirked at her in reply and gestured to her book.

"Looking for inspiration for the Christmas Ball?"

Hermione snapped the book shut loudly and tucked it away, but not before Malfoy managed to see the title '_Potion Remedies for the Unwary and Unwise'_ (that just happened to have an excellent description of the wolfsbane). He looked at her incredulously. "Remedial potions Granger? You?"

She sighed, flipping a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. "Not that it's any of your business Malfoy, but it's Potion Remedies and not Remedial Potions. Now did you have any ideas where to start on this ball?"

"Guest list," he said promptly, surprising her. "We need to decide if we're going to invite all years, or just some years, if we are going to invite family members and the governing body. If we are going to invite people outside of Hogwarts we will need to organise invitations as soon as possible."

He waited for Hermione to input, watching as she bit her lip whilst considering the options. "I think…I think it may be best to just have students at the Christmas ball. We could run it similarly to the Yule Ball a few years ago, and only allow fourth years and above to attend unless accompanying an older student."

Malfoy nodded at her. "Very well. Theme?"

"The Snow Queen?"

The blond looked confused. "What is the snow queen?"

"It's a muggle fairy tale…it will help to show that the time of feeling ourselves superior to muggles is over. We can put the story on boards leading through the entrance hall so anyone who wants to can read it before they arrive." Hermione watched Malfoy warily as she said this – in the past he and his family had been some of the strongest supporters of the pureblood ideals of Voldermort, and while she personally believed that Draco had long since been disenchanted she wasn't sure he had changed enough to accept a muggle themed ball. _Wait – since when have I thought of him as Draco?_

Malfoy scowled but didn't dismiss the idea out of hand. "I need to read this story before I can agree."

"Of course!" Hermione stood up abruptly, causing Malfoy to stare at her in irritation.

"Leaving already, Granger?"

Hermione huffed to herself, but decided to humour him for once. "I thought I would fetch you my copy of _The Snow Queen_, given that you're so eager to read it."

Malfoy had the grace to look momentarily embarrassed before snapping out of it again, almost as though he suddenly remembered he was a Malfoy and Malfoy's don't get embarrassed. He composed himself to see Granger sweep out of the room, muttering darkly to herself, which appeared to amuse the portrait of Dumbledore no end.

She returned after a few minutes, carrying a large hardback book. Malfoy looked at it suspiciously, gauging its size.

"You're expecting me to read that now?! I'm not a bookworm like you, Granger. I have better things to do with my weekend than sit around reading a silly muggle story."

"It's not the whole book!" she replied indignantly. "This is a complete, illustrated collection of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tales, the snow queen is just one of them." She banged the book loudly on the table as though to make a point. Malfoy half opened his mouth, as though planning to ask who Hans Christian Anderson was, but then seemed to decide against it and shut it with a snap. Hermione frowned at him, but busied herself with opening to the page that the story began and placing it on the coffee table in front of him. She shooed Malfoy's feet out of the way and sat next to him on the couch, something he was about to complain loudly about when his attention was taken by the book she was practically shoving under his nose.

On the first page the title of the story was written in large, golden letters with the most beautiful, intricate illustrations surrounding it. There was a few lines of the story here, written amongst the swirling patterns, tempting the reader to go on with the story. Despite every intention Draco was impressed, he hadn't realised that muggles would put so much effort into a book. Subconsciously he leaned forwards, towards the book and towards Hermione as he began to read the story. Hermione was surprised but also pleased with his reaction, and she settled herself comfortably to read along with him. They both became engrossed with the story, taking it in turns to reach forwards and turn a page. If anyone had entered the Head's common room at this time, they would have assumed that the pair sat in front of the fireplace were old friends, not recent enemies. But the only eyes that gazed upon them through the back of a large portrait were too wise to know that this was anything other than a momentary truce, although he did find it interesting enough to go and tell a particular person all about it.

Eventually Hermione turned the last page over and sighed happily. Although she knew the story very well, the ending affected her every time, and Draco was surprised to see her eyes welling up as she closed the book and looked at him with a smile on her face. "I always get emotionally caught up in that story," she explained. She didn't say the unspoken words, that the story helped her to forget about some of the horrors of the last two years, but somehow Draco realised it anyway, and wordlessly handed her a handkerchief from his pocket. She looked at it incredulously for a moment before using it to wipe the tears away.

"So what do you think?" She asked, once she had finished.

"It's adequate," was the reply, served alongside a patronising sniff. Hermione gazed at him in surprise, which quickly gave way to a stronger emotion.

"You're unbelievable! I know you really enjoyed that, and all you can say is _it's adequate_?! You're so full of sh- nonsense!" Malfoy almost cracked a smile at the idea of the good-girl swearing loudly, but then her words hit home.

"How would you know I enjoyed it, you know nothing about me!"

"Oh really," Hermione said sarcastically. "It's not like you've been terrorising me for the past 7 years, I can't imagine why I'd get the idea you were enjoying it. It's not like you had the same expression as when Ron got hit by the slug spewing charm or anything."

Malfoy's expression darkened, and he almost had a faint flush of anger rushing up into his cheeks. Almost, of course, because Malfoys never blushed. They never lost their composure at all, except he did whenever Granger was around.

"You know nothing about me." He hissed quietly, and Hermione was taken aback by how much venom was in his voice. He stood abruptly and stomped away from her until he was stood next to the fireplace, inwardly cursing. It was all her fault, he should have known that he wouldn't be able to form a truce with Granger. She made him so angry with her arrogant attitude, just assuming that she knew him. Well she didn't, he had changed in the last couple of years whilst under the tyranny of the Dark Lord, so much so that beneath his façade he was almost unrecognisable from the spoilt, naïve child that he used to be. However externally he was still the aloof man he had been portraying for years – in essence, he was a Malfoy.

Except Granger always made him lose control, she had ever since he had first met her. The only time in his life that he'd ever been rendered truly speechless was when she had slapped him. There had been a fire in her eyes, and he had never quite been able to convince himself she was the same boring bookworm afterwards.

His train of thought was interrupted by a searing pain in his left forearm, so strong that it caused him to double over and gasp for breath. He tried to hide it from Hermione, but wasn't quick enough, and straightened up to see the shock and worry register in her brown eyes. He spun and nearly ran out of the room still clutching his arm, not noticing that she had stood up and started to move towards him. She watched him leave with thoughtful eyes, biting her bottom lip abstractedly.

After a few moments she returned to her potions book, curling up in the chair again and leaving her book of fairy tales in the centre of the coffee table. She started reading again, but this time not researching the wolfsbane. No, now she was looking to see if there were any potions strong enough to combat a particularly potent dark curse.

-x-x-

Malfoy ran down the corridor and into the Slytherin common room. Ignoring the stares of some late waking students and the concerned gaze of Blaise Zabini he hurried into his room and shut the door, locking it with a wave of his wand. Once he was sure that he would not be interrupted he pulled back the sleeve of his robes to stare at the dark mark. It had gone red and was blistering, and was still incredibly sore. Wincing, he applied a soothing potion which took the edge off the pain but didn't dull it completely. Once it was more bearable he stared at the mark in horror – it almost felt as though he was being summoned…except, he wasn't. He had felt the call of the Dark Lord enough times to know that this was not the same. He wound a bandage over the mark, pulled his sleeve back down and sat in a wooden chair, worrying about what this development could mean.

-x-x-

Hermione spent so long researching in the Head's common room that she lost track of time, only realising once she snapped the book shut that the sun was streaming in through the large windows, meaning that it must be mid afternoon. Inwardly swearing, she nearly threw the book into her bag – although not quite, this was _Hermione_ after all. She ran from the room, furious with herself for being late to meet Ron in Hogsmeade.

To say that Ron was not best pleased was an understatement when Hermione finally rushed into the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, her curly hair waving everywhere as it threatened to escape from its untidy ponytail, her face flushed red from the exertion. She had run through Hogwarts until she reached the perimeter and could apparate away, but it didn't change the fact that she was two hours late for their date. She warily walked over to where Ron, Harry and Ginny were sat around a small table tucked into one corner.

Harry glanced up at Hermione, looked over at Ron's stony face and quickly made up an excuse about meeting Hagrid, before dragging Ginny out with him. Ron continued to sit stonily at the table, staring at his empty glass of butterbeer.

Hermione timidly sat down next to him in Harry's recently vacated seat. "Ron, I – I'm so sorry…" When Ron didn't reply Hermione hurriedly ordered two more butterbeers before turning back to him. "I mean it Ron, I'm really sorry. I completely lost track of time."

"With Malfoy." Rons voice was icy, and his eyes never left the empty glass, even as Rosmerta brought the new drinks Hermione had ordered. His hands were balled into fists and they rested on the table either side of the glass, arms held out stiffly in front of him.

Hermione gaped at the implication, shaken. "What?! No! I was studying." She reached forwards and took one of his fists in her hands, stroking it gently to try to get him to relax a little. "I just got lost in a book Ron, honestly."

For the first time Ron turned to look at her, his eyes holding a strange anger Hermione hadn't seen there before. "I overheard you yesterday, you were making plans with him this morning."

"We did Ron, for a bit, but then he left so I started to do some work instead. I'm so sorry Ron…but seriously? Malfoy?"

An uncertain smile began to form on Ron's face, and his fist unclenched in her hands. "Yeah I guess…bit stupid huh?"

Hermione's answering grin was radiant and her voice conveyed her relief. "Just a bit."

"It's just that… I feel like I've barely seen you since term began, 'Mione. I came back to Hogwarts in order to spend time with you, but you've been so busy that we've had no time together at all. I miss you." A pang of guilt washed over Hermione as she looked at Ron's mournful expression, his eyes fixed on hers. _Am I meant to be feeling like this? I mean, I'm really happy to be with him but I'm not that sad about being busy…_

"I've missed you too," she managed eventually, realising that he was waiting expectantly for her to reply. "But we're going to be busy this year Ron, you knew that before we even got here. It will only be for a year…"

"Yeah, and it's better than not seeing you at all," Ron brightened considerably at the thought.

"Exactly," Hermione passed Ron one of the butterbeers, all doubts vanished in the contentedness she felt as she passed the rest of the afternoon sitting in the pub with Ron, chatting normally about everything and nothing. _I sometimes forget how much I love him._

-x-x-

She spent the rest of the weekend studying hard, and eventually managed to catch up with all of her homework whilst even fitting in the pre-reading for some of the next week.

Breakfast on Monday was relaxed, as Harry and Ron were laughingly regaling Hermione and Ginny with stories from the quidditch try outs that had occurred the day before. Although Harry and Ron couldn't play, they'd been invited to coach the team, something they had taken to enthusiastically. Hermione was listening fondly to what they were telling her whilst eating breakfast, when she became aware from their expressions that there was someone, probably a teacher, standing directly behind her. She spun around to see the headmistress waiting to have a word with her, and putting her toast down she began to scramble to her feet but McGonagall waved her down.

"There is a head's meeting in my office after dinner tonight, Miss Granger. Professor Snape is aware that you will be late to his tutorial. I would like to discuss any progress you have made towards out integrated events."

Hermione nodded and McGonagall left satisfied. As she sat back down Hermione stole a glance at the top table, wondering how Snape had actually taken the news that she would be late. He had a thunderous expression on his face as he scowled into a cup of pumpkin juice. Hermione couldn't tell if he was annoyed because their session had been delayed, she had a sneaky suspicion that it may be related to the fact that Professor Dante was laughing happily two seats down, her blue eyes twinkling as she conversed with Professor Sprout. Seeing the way Snape's eyes slid sideways towards his fellow teacher, Hermione guessed it was [probably a combination of both. _He really doesn't like her much_.

-x-x-

After dinner Hermione headed straight to the headmistress' office, not getting it wrong this time and arriving promptly. She was surprised to see that Malfoy had beaten her again – when she entered he was sat on one of the squishy chairs around the small fireplace, his scowl in place as usual. Hermione hadn't seen him since he stormed out of the common room on Saturday morning, and she looked at him for slightly longer that she might normally, taking in his pale appearance and very un-Malfoy-esque rumpled hair. Noticing her attention, he raised his eyebrows at her and deepened his scowl. Blushing, she turned away and sat in the second chair that matched Malfoy's. McGonagall took a seat on the small settee that faced them across a small table.

"I know it's early to discuss the Christmas Ball, but starting to make arrangements now will help to portray a untied front to the rest of the school and, possibly more importantly, the government and the ministry. After last year the school is under scrutiny this year and we need to come across well in order to ensure our future success. Have you met to discuss plans yet?"

"Well yes," Hermione began. "We thought the ball should run along the same lines as the Yule Ball during the tri-wizard tournament, with attendance limited to Hogwarts and associates, and students from fourth year up. However, we thought that there should be a theme this time, and we have chosen a muggle fairytale called the Snow Queen in order to connect with muggleborn students."

McGonagall nodded slowly, mulling over the idea. "It sounds like it could work – I assume that implementing a theme means that you are considering some form of costumes?"

"Well…" Hermione was stumped, their session the previous day hadn't been the most productive and she was too wary of her seeming truce with Malfoy to make suggestions without running them past him first. Not something it appeared that he shared her concern in.

"Of course Professor. Granger and myself will be attending as principle characters from the story, and encouraging others to do likewise."

Even McGonagall appeared to be surprised at this interjection, and looked from Hermione's gaping expression to Malfoy's bored gaze.

"Very good, Mr Malfoy. I must confess that I'm not very familiar with muggle stories, could you please elaborate on this particular tale?"

Again, Malfoy surprised Hermione by actually volunteering the information. _Strange how he keeps doing that_ she thought to herself, as he began to explain the complex story.

"One day shards of a tainted mirror fall in a boys eyes and heart, turning his heart to ice and causing him to believe everything around him is ugly and bad. He is captured by the snow queen and taken to her palace in the ice. His closest friend, a young girl, eventually finds him and melts his cold heart with her tears, and burns away the shard of mirror. His tears in reply then wash the shard out of his eye and they escape with the help of friends the girl makes on the way. They then live happily ever after."

"Well…that seems suitably, and certainly festive enough. I trust that you will keep me updated on your plans?" When both Hermione and Malfoy nodded their assent, McGonagall smiled at them. "I must say, I am impressed with how well you have put aside your former difficulties to work together this year. I know that being forced together is hard for both of you, but your maturity in working together regardless of your past history is a fine example of other, less forgiving members of Hogwarts." Behind McGonagall the portrait of Dumbledore was smiling genially at his students, and Hermione smiled slightly at the sight although she saw Malfoy averting his eyes. A memory of what Malfoy had been asked to do by Voldemort in their fourth year came into her mind, and she felt some pity for the blond boy.

The headmistress let them go soon after and Hermione raced down into the classroom where her potion was bubbling to find Snape sitting behind a desk, marking essays. He scowled when she came in, standing and moving over to their potion. She expected a diatribe regarding priorities, so was pleased to find that he merely commented on the status of the potion and gave her instructions regarding its handling. They poured the potion into goblets and watched it steam as Snape tested its effectiveness using another potion as an indicator.

"This is a sufficient wolfsbane, not excellent but acceptable for a first attempt. Now we need to consider how to improve it – we need to be able to suppress the side effects whilst maintaining its potency. I have been working on this for many years without success and I do not hold out much hope that an addition can be found, however Professor Dante seems to believe that using this so-called elemental magic you possess you may be able to find a solution where I have not." A sneer that Hermione hadn't seen since before the war had appeared on Snape's face, and his lip curled up at the mention of elemental magic.

She didn't know what made her ask, but the question was out before she could help herself. "Why do you dislike Professor Dante so much?"

Snape just glared, before picking up several spare vials and noisily rearranging them into the cupboard. "There is a reason elemental magic is rarely used, it is unpredictable and unreliable. No one knows how to use it properly, and suddenly she shows up and claims to be an expert. Nobody else seems to see that she is, at best, grossly exaggerating her abilities." He cleaned the cauldron with a simple spell, and noisily it folded itself up as he stared impassively. Just as he turned away to clear up ingredients, Hermione could have sworn she heard him add "And she smiles too much."

Having been summarily dismissed by Snape, Hermione walked back to her dormitory, thinking about the enigmatic teacher's answer. She believed that Professor Dante was very knowledgable about and capable of harnessing the elemental magic, and was unsure as to why Professor Snape was so determined to think otherwise.


	6. Mistrust

**A/N** – This is a little shorter than the others, and I'm not quite happy about some bits so it may be edited later! Any suggestions for improvements – particularly conversations with Snape – are welcome as I was struggling a bit. Reviews make me happy, as always. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer** – This all belongs to JK Rowling, except my OCs.

Mistrust

Hermione asked Professor Dante about Snape's disapproval of elemental magic when they next met for a tutorial a couple of days later. The transfiguration teacher was showing Hermione how to scan another person without hurting them. Harry had volunteered for the task and Ginny was also present, sat swinging her legs on a desk at the side of the classroom. Dante was sat on a chair to Hermione's side, her hand resting at the younger woman's elbow, sensing what Hermione was doing as she supervised. After Hermione asked her question, Dante pursed her lips and frowned as she thought carefully about her reply, simultaneously helping her student to very gently figure out Harry's element.

"Elemental magic is unpredictable, I believe I told you as much last week. And if not understood, it can be very unreliable. It is more connected to your emotions than other magic, and so your state of mind can greatly influence how successful you are. There have been very few recent witches or wizards that have been able to control it, and therefore it is generally understood that nobody can. It's nonsense of course, but it's easier to deem that it cannot be used constructively than find someone to show you that it is possible. After all, it is human nature to fear things that you do not understand."

Hermione grunted as she concentrated, but Ginny spoke up from her perch. "So if the knowledge of how to control it was lost, how can you?"

"I was taught by one of the very few who still do use it, and they were something of an expert. Now it is time to pass that knowledge on to somebody equally capable, and hopefully Hermione will find it as useful as I have. Now gently Hermione, you need to concentrate but you need to do it gently. Too much and you'll heat his hand up. Think of it as lightly scanning his hand instead of probing it."

Carefully, Hermione slowly did as she asked, and soon found a pulsing thread inside Harry's hand. Again she found that it was different to her own, but this time she had longer to explore it and soon felt a cooling sensation sweep over her. As she traced the magic up through Harry's arm she became more submerged in it, until she could almost feel that she was in a damp forest. She was finding it all so much easier now, it was almost second nature to trace it throughout his body but she stopped once she reached his shoulder – it seemed a bit intrusive to carry on.

"Well done, you're really getting the hang of this," Dante praised. "Now try his other hand." When Hermione was set on her task again, Dante returned to the previous topic of conversation. "Another thing to note is that water and fire magics, for some reasons I won't go into now, are easier to control than earth or air but far less common. However, despite this I still don't know why Professor Snape is so particularly against elemental magic as it's occasional unpredictability shouldn't be an issue when a competent witch is teaching it, is he normally prejudiced against the unknown?"

Harry let out a short laugh. "A year ago I would have said he was as prejudiced as they come, but now I just think he's a grumpy old git. He normally only prejudices against specific people, for things they've done to him in the past. Have you given any reason to mistrust you? It can't be from when you were at Hogwarts together – you're too young to have been here at the same time."

"I appreciate the thought Harry, but I'm older than I appear. However, you're right in thinking that we weren't at Hogwarts together. I don't know why he may have taken a dislike to me, but it doesn't matter much provided we can work together, something we have achieved until this point."

Dante was not completely honest with this answer. She could think of a pretty good reason why Severus Snape didn't trust her, even if he wasn't aware of it himself. A memory came unbidden into her mind.

'_She entered the shrieking shack, having watched Harry, Ron and Hermione leave at a run. Moving across the creaking wooden floor, she saw the object of her search and dropped the illusion that hid her, ensuring as she did so that the doorways were blocked and no one would be able to come in. He looked dead, his eyes glazed over, his face pale and he didn't breathe, but she knew he was merely unconscious. The snake's venom paralysed before it killed, supposedly to give Nagini the chance to savour its dinner. Peeling the robes back she could see the deadly bites accompanied by the gaping wound left by Voldemort's curse. He was in a dreadful state, not only paralysed from the venom but also deathly pale from loss of blood, the wounds covering nearly every part of his torso. But he was very lucky. To most, bites this severe from Nagini would be fatal with no conventional magic possessing the ability to cure them. However, even Nagini's venom was no match for her fire, and she began her task. She ensured she left wounds so that the healers would not be too suspicious but shallow enough so that they would not be life threatening. Maybe in future she could persuade him to let her remove the scars._

'_As she was finishing she heard him croak out a single word, Albus. Looking into his dark eyes, she smiled slightly and chuckled at him. "Not quite, Severus." She rocked back and his eyes opened wider, taking in the eyes she had inherited from her father alongside her mother's flaming hair. With a sigh – knowing that he would not easily forgive her if he knew she had done this – she pulled out her wand, pointed it between his eyes and murmured "Obliviate." The dark eyes gazed at her in shock before glazing over and his head drooped to his chest. To see him now, he looked merelyt sleeping, but she could not help but feel a deep sorrow at the tragedy that had been his life – even Shakespeare would have struggled to create such an antihero. She sighed sadly for what she had done – he would not easily forgive her if he found out about this, and she suspected he would thank her even less for saving his life. But if she was going to complete what she had come here to do, she needed his help. With a flash of fire they were gone, and the shrieking shack was empty once again.'_

Although Snape was not aware of what she had deleted, he was an intelligent man and an accomplished occlumens – he would on a subconscious level been aware that someone had tampered with his mind, and probably that she was the cause. This was probably the cause of his distrust and she couldn't deny it was justified. Another hurdle she had to work through to achieve her task.

Dante was brought out of her reverie by Hermione, who was still scrutinising Harry's other arm. "He said that you smiled too much."

Dante almost couldn't help the smirk that tugged around the corner of her face at Hermione's comment, although her three students were oblivious to it. Maybe her task would not be quite as difficult as she had anticipated.

-x-x-

Hermione hung around at the end of the tutorial, waving Harry and Ginny away with a promise of joining them shortly. She wanted a quick word with the professor and it seemed as convenient a time as any. Dante was surprised to see her waiting in the centre of the room, but hopped up onto her desk and waved Hermione closer.

"Professor, can elemental magic help to cure a dark curse?"

"It would depend on the curse…why do you ask?"

Hermione paused, knowing it wasn't exactly her business but was unable to help herself. "Over the weekend I was discussing plans for the Christmas Ball with Malfoy when he clutched his arm…where the dark mark is. He looked in pain He rushed out, but I think there is something wrong with the mark. Is there anything you can do?"

Dante frowned at her pupil. "I can have a look into it, but I can't make any promises."

"Thank you Professor. Um…could you not mention this to anyone please? Malfoy doesn't know I've mentioned it…"

With a smile Dante reassured her. "I won't tell him, you have my word."

"Thank you!" and with that Hermione left for the night, leaving a thoughtful Dante behind. The professor returned to her desk for a while, finishing off some marking from her third year class. Once she had finished she checked the time, considering carefully before making a decision.

Closing up her classroom she walked out into the corridor instead of proceeding into her private quarters and moved swiftly down the hallways until she found the door she was looking for. This part of the castle had been almost completely rebuilt after the war, with the result that Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts now shared a floor. She rapped briefly on the door to the DADA office and then pushed it open without waiting for a reply. This led to its inhabitant standing abruptly, wand out and customary scowl in place. Ignoring his expression, the redhead walked straight over to him and grasped the arm that was resting by his side, ready to move into a duelling position if needed, his left arm.

Snape had been calmly marking his DADA essays on that particular Wednesday evening, eternally despondent about some of the drivel that the fifth years (really, fifth years, about to take their OWLs – they should know better) had written about detecting poisons. A knock at his door was unusual but nothing too radical, but for that same person to barge in without ceremony (not to mention how _did_ she get past the wards he put up?) was unheard of. Naturally he sprang to his feet, wand outstretched – being a double agent for decades and living through two horrific wars meant that jumping into a duelling position was almost second nature – but the intruder paid no attention to him, preferring to stride over and grasp his other arm hard.

Searing pain shot through his body, so much so that even he couldn't block it completely and hissed. Dante caught it immediately and released his arm, still holding gently but repositioning herself so that she stood in front of him. With his scowl in place Snape lowered his wand arm, and brought his gaze down to her face. Dante looked into his eyes, expecting to see many things there – annoyance for one – but instead finding a trace of fear behind his impassive mask. Turning her attention back down to his left arm, she moved her hand down until she grasped his hand softly. Using her free hand she pulled back his robes revealing his dark mark, and gasped herself at what she saw.

The mark was not jet black, as when Voldemort had summoned his supporters, but nor was it the faded greenish colour of a dormant mark. Instead, it was a dark red-brown, the colour of dried blood. Along with the colour change it was raised like a welt, almost branded into the skin. It looked excruciatingly painful, and before she could stop herself Dante placed her second hand at his elbow and drew some of the pain out, causing the swelling to recede. When she had finished she looked up at his face again.

"Thank you," he whispered, withdrawing his arm from her grasp and gently disentangling his fingers from hers. She had forgotten that she had been holding his hand, and blushed as he removed it.

"How long has it been doing that?"

"A few days."

"And you told nobody?"

"Who is there to tell?"

Dante considered his remarks, and thought about everything she knew about Snape. Dumbledore had been the only person he had confided in, and she knew as well as anyone that the older wizard had been manipulative at best and unlikely to inspire trust, and was now gone anyway. "Minerva?"

Snape snorted derisively. "Much as I respect the Headmistress' capabilities, she rather has enough on her plate with the culmination of a war that has had such an impact on most of the students."

Dante considered suggesting Harry, but had a suspicion as to what the result would be. "You can tell me."

The look of surprise she was given for the suggestion was not lost on her. Snape regarded her shrewdly – in his experience, everybody wanted something and help was not offered for free. He was considering Dante's possible motives, when she almost seemed to read his mind (something that also alarmed him).

"Hermione reported to me that Mr Malfoy also seems to be suffering from the same affliction." Snape raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't interrupt. "When one of my students appears to be in excruciating pain, it becomes of interest to me. So, do you have any ideas as to what is causing it?"

"Why would you assume I know anything about it?"

"Severus, you may not appreciate me but please do not insult my intelligence."

Snape scowled, but then seated himself again at his desk and grudgingly conjured up a chair for Dante to do likewise. He rested his arms on his desk, his fingers steepled in front of him and an unreadable expression in his dark eyes. "Initially, it felt similar to a call from the Dark Lord – he was not exactly gentle when he sent a summons. But he is gone and it…feels different. It almost feels as though someone is trying to replicate his spell but doing it badly. Either that, or it's a lingering curse placed on the mark by the Dark Lord, in case any of his _loyal_ death eaters should outlive him…"

"Either way, not good news."

"Indeed."

They fell into silence, not comfortable but not as tense as usual, until eventually Dante broke it with an observation. "You wish no medical aid."

Snape did not even question how she had understood his thoughts so clearly. "Medication will cover it. We need to study it, to find out what it is. If someone is trying to replicate the Dark Lord's work, then we need to try to stop them." He only registered once he had finished that he had used _we_, not _I_, and hoped that she hadn't noticed. Her raised eyebrows and small smile told him otherwise.

"Be that as it may, I will try to think of a cure, if not for your sake then for Draco's. He has been through enough without the constant reminder of bad decisions made in naivity."

Now it was Snape who looked astonished. "You can do that?"

"I am a healer – it is what I have been trained to do."

With that she left, and all Snape could do was watch after her as she breezed from his office. He couldn't help but feel a grudging respect now, although teachers theoretically treated all students equally they were notoriously prejudiced, and usually against Slytherin house. For her to simply state that she would work hard – he knew how complex the curse was from his own attempts to remove it and had no doubt that it would be extremely hard work – to help a Slytherin, and a former death eater at that had knocked him slightly.

One thing was certain – their relationship had reached a form of truce, at least for the time being.

-x-x-

Guinevere paced in her private quarters, trying to think of a way to approach the solution. She had some ideas, but knew she would need Snape's close collaboration in order to pull it off and although they had subtly shifted, she knew he still didn't trust her enough. With a sigh, the young woman fell into a large chair in front of her fireplace with an air of defeat – she would need to work hard to earn Snape's trust, and every delay would cause people more pain. Although she only distantly knew Draco from her transfiguration class she did not want to see him hurt, and she had not saved Severus once just to lose him now.

Luckily for both of them, when Guinevere Dumbledore put her not inconsiderable mind to something, she invariably succeeded.


	7. Place Your Bets, Please

**A/N** – This chapter has been put up appallingly late! I can only apologise as pesky real life has been interfering and taking up a lot of my free time. I've also changed this to a Hermione/Draco story, as that is one of the main pairings. If anyone has any thoughts about things they'd like to see, please get in touch (review or pm) and let me know what you think.

This is a longer than usual chapter to make up for it taking longer than usual to write!

**Disclaimer** – This all belongs to JK Rowling, except my OCs.

Place Your Bets Please…

Saturday morning hadn't started out well for Hermione – Malfoy had accosted her after breakfast, muttering something about the ball and meeting up to work on it. She had planned to spend the morning practising elemental magic with Ron (after he had finally come around to the idea, as well!) and so had agreed with very bad grace. She may not be fond of Malfoy, but she was not going to be shirking her head duties.

Her mood improved when she entered the Head's common room, beating Malfoy yet again. Her book still lay on the table, but it had obviously been read since their meeting the week before. What surprised her even more was the amount of notes scattered about, regarding decorations, costumes and entertainment all based on the Hans Christian Anderson theme. He had evidently put a lot of time into research over the last week, not that she could think how he had time with all the homework they had been assigned. _But why was he doing all this?_

When he finally entered she was sat in the wing-backed chair again, the book on her lap as she flicked through the beautiful pictures. Malfoy looked at the tenderness with which she turned the pages, before walking over loudly so that she would hear him. He sat on the sofa and began gathering his notes up, scowling as he realised that the Gryffindor had already looked through them. When he had them stacked in a pile he looked up to find her staring back at him. His scowl deepened.

"I know you find me unbearably attractive, Granger, but do you have to stare so much?" He was rewarded by seeing her blush profoundly, as she dropped her gaze back down to the book."

"In your dreams, Malfoy."

Her comeback was less confrontational and more flirtatious than he was expecting, but he smirked as he saw that she was still red. "The tomato effect you're sprouting means that it's your dreams I'm interested in."

Hermione spluttered, unsure whether to blush more at the implication or groan at the cheesiness. Eventually the blush won out (maybe because her subconscious knew Malfoy would take groaning the wrong way…). She brought the large book up to try to hide her face from the embarrassment she knew was written all over it – she was useless at hiding her emotions. Eventually she composed herself, and looked back over at the blond who was lounging on the small sofa again, his feet resting idly on the arm nearest her and his legs crossed at the ankles. His gaze rose to meet hers from the notes he was idly flicking through, and Hermione felt the blush run up her neck again. _I've never realised how grey his eyes are before…_

In order to distract him, and herself, from the new thoughts that had sprung up in her mind, she decided to go on the offensive instead.

"What is all this, Malfoy? What are you trying to achieve? If you think you can _charm_ your way into my life, you're mistaken! You spent years, _years_, telling me that I was beneath you, worth nothing – you can't make up for that in a couple of weeks by doing some extra curricular reading and trying to rein back the insults! I haven't forgotten what happened in the war, how you stood by and watched while your sadistic aunt carved into my skin! By rights, you shouldn't even be here!" She poured out so much pent up anger and confusion in one short tirade and stood panting, already beginning to regret some of her comments. She knew the events at the Manor were not Malfoy's fault and she had even stood by Harry when he testified for Malfoy at his trial, but there was so much bottled up pain from the remnants of the war that she had not been able to discuss with anybody that she couldn't help herself.

The blond glared at her from where he now stood next to the coffee table, his notes scattered everywhere. His face was paler than usual and his expression, which had started out incredulous when she began had turned to sorrow, guilt and anger in stages.

"_How dare you,_" he hissed, "_Assume that you know _anything_ about me!_ You, Saint Potter and the Weasel have no idea what my family and I went through during the war! And this, all this, you assume is for you? Maybe I had entertained some ridiculous hopes that we may all be able to put the war behind us and call a truce, but that is not why I am doing all this. I am doing this for _me_. Even with the golden boy's testimony I escaped Azkaban by the skin of my teeth, and every move I make this year is being watched in case I move a single toe out of line. Believe it or not, I actually _care_ about my future, as the only way I can provide for my mother is to do well and get a respectable job to try to improve the family's name, as we have lost everything. Whatever else you may think I am, and I generally don't care what you or any of the rest of you Gryffindors think, I am not a monster. If I keep McGonagall happy then maybe she won't dislike me as much as the other professors do, and she may even be able to help me.

"If it is worth anything, I am sorry about what happened at the Manor but I can't change it. But don't fool yourself Granger, by thinking, at any time, that I do anything _for you_!"

He finished his tirade and glared at the girl in front of him. Hermione could only stare with one hand to her mouth, she knew he was expecting an angry retort but in all honesty she couldn't do it. After everything she had just heard, she was beginning to understand him. And with that understanding came a wave of pity, for everything he had been through and everything he was still going through. She couldn't help the tears that began to well up in her eyes.

"D-Draco, I'm…"

She didn't get any further before Malfoy abruptly dropped her gaze and stomped out of the portrait hole, leaving Hermione to curl up in the wing-backed chair and cry for all those who had been damaged by Voldemort, not in the least the blond Slytherin.

-x-x-

Draco slumped down against the wall next to Dumbledore's portrait. He definitely shouldn't have yelled like that – after all, he was meant to be getting into her good graces. But it was her fault, if she hadn't been so infuriating, questioning his motives about everything then he wouldn't have to constantly defend herself. _After everything that has happened you would have thought that she would have learnt to keep her nose out of things that don't concern her_. He threw his head back, hitting it against the wall with a clunk. He couldn't get the image out of his head, of her stood there, mouth slightly open, eyes wide and beginning to tear up, the expression of pity. _He didn't need her pity!_ With one last bang, he dropped his head forwards, and almost subconsciously pulled up the sleeve of his robes to look at the mark underneath, the ugly red welts staring back at him. He didn't deserve pity, everything that had happened was his own creation and this accursed scar on his arm was the proof of that. Even in death, Voldemort was managing to use it against him, to remind him of why he was not worth the pity of someone like Granger.

In anger he let the robes fall back down his arm, hiding it again. He stood up and stormed off towards the Great Hall for lunch, not noticing the figure of Dumbledore sliding out of his portrait with a knowing look on his face.

-x-x-

Professor Dante was sitting in her private quarters, calmly marking transfiguration essays. It was not exactly what she had planned to spend her Saturday doing, but was part of the teacher's lot, and it wasn't really so bad. She was marking the OWL students, and at least some of them had the brains to create quite interesting reports. She was sat in a red chair near her fireplace, basking in the midday sun that streamed through a window to her left. Her quarters were remarkably plain, decorated mainly in red or gold and looked remarkably like the Gryffindor common room. Of course she had done that deliberately, she thought it would bear truest to the house that she headed and wanted to show some loyalty. Of course, no students and not even all staff members knew she had never actually been to Hogwarts as a child, and therefore never been sorted into a house, but just in case she tried to make her allegiance obvious. Looking around the rest of the room, there would be very little out of place, if one didn't look too closely at the paintings.

The paintings in the room were the clearest sign that Professor Dante was no ordinary witch. For a start, two of the four large frames that ordained the red walls were in fact filled with photographs. Still photographs. One depicted a cityscape, and the other a building. Any muggle would have immediately recognised the cityscape as a panorama of New York, a still photograph depicting the hectic streets, yellow cabs and gritty realism of the famous city. The second photograph was also a city scene, but this one older and black and white. A train plummeted out of the first floor of a inner city station, and lay touching the street below in a crumpled mess. Again, a muggle would immediately be able to identify the incident as a famous accident in Paris in 1895, but no wizard would be able to say what it was. Dante appreciated both photographs as monuments to the achievements of mankind, with or without magic. That and she found the train highly amusing.

The third picture was a more common magical depiction, of unicorns grazing peacefully amongst the rolling hills. Every now and then one of the unicorns would shake its mane, or move to a new patch of grass. They were there when she had first arrived, but the unicorns had the pleasing tendency to greet Dante whenever she entered her rooms so she had decided to keep them.

The final frame seemed to contain nothing. It was the most prominent one in the room, hanging over the fireplace in the centre, but the canvas in there was completely blank. It was certainly an oddity, but Dante did not seem perturbed by it.

It was from this final painting that a gentle voice now issued, disturbing the transfiguration teacher as she continued with her marking.

"Guinevere."

Her head sprang up, red curls bouncing causing her to growl and tuck them behind her ears. When she realised it was the picture frame talking to her the scowl was replaced with a smile.

"What do you want?" Her warm tone made the words affectionate.

A figure slid into the portrait and smiled at her. "You're looking well – it would seem that teaching agrees with you my dear."

Dante put her essays down and stood, moving over until she was standing in front of the fireplace, gazing up at the image of Albus Dumbledore. "I'm glad you think so, but I don't really think you came to discuss my work."

"Well no, you've caught me out as usual. I just witnessed the most interesting argument between our Head boy and Head girl. I can't help but think how good they are for each other, even if they do not see it. I am reminded very much of two other such individuals."

"I don't like what you're insinuating, old man."

"See!" The painting giggled joyfully. "You're even beginning to sound like him!"

The young teacher's glare did nothing to stop the former headmaster's glee, and she gave up and rubbed her forehead with one hand. "Is there anything else you wanted to tell me, or did you just want to keep interfering with my love life?"

"Well there was something. Shortly after Mr Malfoy and Miss Granger's enlightening argument, he left the common room and very obligingly showed me his dark mark."

"And?"

"And it appears to be red and very sore, similar to Severus's from what you told me?"

"That's what I expected. I would appreciate your opinion actually. I am of the mind that this is not just a lingering curse that Voldemort left behind."

"I would agree. If it was some residual magic I would have expected it to have started as soon as he was defeated, and to be very fast acting. Tom would not have wanted his Death Eaters to long outlive him. But honestly, I would be surprised for him to have done it at all. He believed that he could not be defeated."

"So that means that somebody else is trying to use the dark mark against the Death Eaters, presumably to rally them as it doesn't appear to be causing them to be seriously ill." Dante's face was set into a grim line as she contemplated the possibilities.

"I share your concerns. Tom will have put precautions in place to ensuring he was the only one who could wield the mark. To circumvent that would take great power – I know very few people who could do something like this, and none that would have the inclination to do it. It worries me."

"Nobody on this plane…" came the reply, and as the blue eyes met the same fear was shared by both, the unspoken words hanging between them in the silence of the room.

_A demon could do it_.

-x-x-

Malfoy slumped into his usual seat next to Blaise and opposite Pansy. The rest of the Slytherins were, as usual, avoiding the three of them. Malfoy kept himself amused by thinking they were the inverse of the 'golden trio', as instead of being loved and hailed as heroes they were shunned and followed by whispers of 'death eaters'. This was particularly unfair as it only applied to a third of them anyway – Blaise's family had remained carefully neutral and the Parkinson's had preferred to sit and support the Dark Lord from the sidelines without becoming actively involved. Draco thought that their treatment was a little unjustified, even if his own was completely warranted. However, it had been Blaise and Pansy's choice to still stick by him, and they knew that they would also be ostracised if they did. Draco appreciated it, probably more than he ever showed them, but then it didn't do for a Slytherin to show to much of their emotions. '_Unlike those bleeding Gryffindors'_ he nearly growled to himself as he stared over to the red and gold table, where Granger was sat next to Weasel with her back to him. Malfoy scowled at the scene before staring back down at his plate and viciously stabbing a potato.

"Is it even worth asking what's wrong?" The question came from the Italian next to him, who was eyeing up Malfoy's black expression with some trepidation.

"No." The blond replied curtly, before dropping his fork with a clatter and rubbing his eyes with his hand. "It's nothing, just had to spend a morning with Granger."

"Mm hmm. I thought you were going to try to build bridges?"

"I was..." Draco speared another helpless potato, picking it up on his fork and scrutinising it closely. "It would be a lot easier if she wasn't so..."

"Condescending? Clever? Irritating?" Blaise supplied.

"Nice."

"What?" Not the reply that his friend was expecting. He had heard Draco call Granger many things, but nice was not one of them.

"She actually had the balls to scream at me earlier, questioning my motives and implying that I was trying to get into her good graces."

"How could she? What a cow. It's none of her business why you do anything!" Pansy's shrill voice brought the attention of some of the other Slytherins around the table, but a quick scowl from Malfoy soon persuaded them that their own food was far more interesting.

"I thought you _were_ trying to get into her good graces." Blaise muttered as he returned to his dinner.

"Pansy, keep it down. It was fully justified for her to be suspicious, I've hardly gone out of my way to be trustworthy have I?"

"So what now?"

Draco shrugged. "I keep my head down and keep her off my back. I'm working hard this year and I don't need that bookworm to spoil it."

With that said, he looked over to the object of his thoughts, to see Ron Weasley drop an arm around her. He returned his attention to his dinner and began stabbing peas with more ferocity than was strictly required.

-x-x-

Hermione shrugged Ron's arm off her as she tried to eat, struggling to move her arms freely enough and getting irritated. Ron backed off with a hurt looked that she barely registered as she continued to eat. It had been a difficult day, with Malfoy flying off the handle this morning and then she had struggled over transfiguration in the afternoon. The work that Professor Dante was setting them was incredibly complex, requiring a great deal of concentration which was something she had been lacking. Images from the morning had been constantly running through her mind and she couldn't help but think that maybe she had misjudged the blond. However irritating he may be, he probably was just trying to keep out of trouble. She had noticed how the three Slytherins from their year had been ostracised from the rest of the group, even if Harry and Ron evidently hadn't.

"What do you think Malfoy is up to? He's been scowling at us all dinner."

Hermione sighed and put down her cutlery. "I'm sure it's nothing Harry, for once it would be nice if we didn't all jump to the conclusion that Malfoy was out to get us."

Harry wisely avoided eye contact and went back to his food, but Ron had never been that keyed in to Hermione's moods.

"What is up with you today? You're being really moody!"

"Ron!" Ginny hissed at her brother from where she was sat next to Harry. But instead of snapping, Hermione took a deep breath.

"Sorry Ron, I've had a rubbish day. I guess I'm just a bit tense."

"Well how about coming to watch us teach the kiddies to play Quidditch tomorrow? That will relax you." Ron had such a hopeful expression on his face that Hermione couldn't help but giggle at him.

"I think I'll pass Ron, but I appreciate it."

Harry looked over with concern in his eyes. "Maybe it would be good for you to relax a bit, 'Mione. You've been working really hard. We're planning on a small get together in our common room later – join us?"

Hermione thought briefly before deciding that she needed a break. "Sure, sounds good. You go on, I've barely touched my dinner."

Her three friends, having finished dinner quickly, left to go and get ready whilst promising to save some butterbeer for her. Hermione finished her meal in silence, still thinking about her argument this morning. As she finished up she saw Malfoy leaving the table, and hurried after him. She wanted to catch him to apologise, but wasn't sure how he would take it. She was still deliberating about what to do as she followed him into the entrance hall.

"Malfoy," Hermione called after him, making her mind up at last. Surprised, the blond spun around to look at her again. "How about next Saturday morning, for poster making?" She thought that she saw his mask slipping for a moment as he almost graced her with a smile, before he nodded curtly and disappeared around the corner of the corridor. With a sigh, Hermione resumed her trek to the Gryffindor common room, hoping that her instinct to put a little faith in him wasn't completely misfounded.

-x-x-

The week flew by, with her classes and her tutorials taking up nearly all her time, and before she knew it Saturday had come around again. Sat in the Head's common room, Hermione almost decided that she could come to like Malfoy as they created posters for the Christmas ball. Well maybe not like him, but certainly not dislike him. When he wasn't being an arrogant twit he was really quite amusing, and his sarcasm when vented against appropriate targets could be very witty. He also seemed to have quite a creative streak, as the two of them waved their wands to bring the white pieces of parchment into glorious technicolour. Hermione found herself admiring his wandwork, and then wondered where the talent had come from. He didn't even take charms, yet seemed to have a knack for it. He noticed the attention and smiled shyly, one of the first times she had ever seen him smile properly.

"My father disapproves of Charms, he believes it is not a worthy talent for a Malfoy."

Hermione nodded, understanding. It seemed a great pity to her that a talent such as Malfoy was demonstrating had been discouraged due to prejudice. "Well…you're very good at it."

"A compliment, Granger?"

"Don't get used to it," Hermione warned, grinning at the Slytherin who replied with his customary smirk although to Hermione it seemed less offensive than before. They worked in comfortable quiet for a while, making small adjustments to the posters until they were satisfied.

"Not bad" Hermione praised, looking over their work. Each poster depicted a snow scene with some of the characters from the story illustrated, and some key passages from the book. The images had been taken almost directly from Hermione's book, and the main poster that would be in the entrance hall on the large notice board was of the Snow Queen sat on her throne, with Kai at her knees looking adoringly into her face and Greta looking on whilst hiding from the Queen. It truly was an impressive picture, and with the frozen palace echoing the silver and blue theme colours it demonstrated what they were trying to achieve perfectly.

"Hmmm." Malfoy gave a typical unenthusiastic answer, but for once Hermione didn't care as she was beginning to suspect a lot of his usual mannerisms were just his way of defending himself. After all, if you don't care about something then it doesn't matter if people mock it.

"We now need to put them up," The witch said briskly, moving to roll up the posters. "Which ones do you want to take?"

"I'll take the ones for the potions corridor, the Slytherin common room and the Astronomy stairs, they're all in the same part of the castle."

"That's fair, so I'll take the Great Hall, Transfiguration corridor and Gryffindor common room. I'll ask Luna to take the Ravenclaw one and I'm sure Hannah Abbott will do the Hufflepuff."

Malfoy just shrugged and picked up his posters, before leaving without a word. Hermione rolled her eyes at him – he'd reverted back to his former aloof self now that they had finished working together. She wasn't offended by his attitude as much as she might once have been, and she patiently rolled up her allocation of the posters and left.

-x-x-

She managed to find Hannah and Luna, passing posters on and freeing her to pin up her own. She was on the final poster, the largest that would be placed in the entrance hall, when Harry and Ron found her.

"Hey 'Mione, still not finished with the posters?"

Hermione sent a smile at her boyfriend, squeezing his hand slightly before returning to her task. "This is the last, I just need to get it straight."

"Where's the ferret? Isn't he meant to be helping you?"

"Don't call him that Ron, and he is helping. We divided the posters up between us."

"Since when do you care what I call him?" Ron was staring with his eyes narrowed at his girlfriend.

"Honestly Ron, the war is over and it's time to try to move on. I know you're still hurting," she said softly, gently placing a hand on his arm as she thought over those they had lost. "We all need to try to move on, and if that means being slightly less antagonistic towards Malfoy, than so be it."

Ron relaxed under her touch. "You…you're right, 'Mione. Fred…wouldn't have wanted this. Well he probably would have wanted me to call Malfoy a git, but you know what I mean…"

Hermione's reply was to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him, just as she had months earlier in the room of requirement. Harry looked away politely – he wasn't overly keen on his friends snogging right in front of him but they didn't seem to do a lot of it so he didn't mind too much.

However, not everyone shared his view. "Honestly Granger, in the front hall? It's enough to make anyone ill!"

After untangling herself from her boyfriend Hermione looked over at the blond Slytherin, who was stood with a sneer on his face alongside Blaise Zabini. A blush ran up her cheeks, but she forced herself to make eye contact. "It's a free world, Malfoy. It's not my fault you can't help being jealous." She knew almost immediately that it was a bad idea to tease him, she wasn't even sure what came over her.

Malfoy was momentarily speechless. He had not expected such a comeback from the normally nerdy girl. But Malfoys did not lose their cool, even when having to witness _that_ going on in the corridor.

"Jealous? You wish Granger, but I'm afraid the Weasel just isn't my type."

Hermione surprised herself by grinning slightly and turning back to Ron, only to find that he was still glaring with barely repressed fury at Malfoy. Knowing Ron's temper and how much trouble it often left him in, she sighed and placed one hand on his arm. "Come on Ron, he's only joking…". Harry was standing gormlessly, his mouth hanging open after their exchange. For Hermione to say something so…._flirtateous_ - and to Malfoy! - was very unusual. But then to hear the blond reply with something equally lighthearted had completely shocked him. From out the corner of his eye Harry could see that Blaise was mirroring his expression, before he was distracted by Ron.

"What is it Malfoy? Come to lord it over us as usual? Except you aren't any better than us anymore, are you? No more riches to make us feel inferior since the Ministry took it all away! Not even the high and mighty Malfoy name, to remind us of your superiority. How does it feel now to know that you are no better than us? Or in fact worse, at least we didn't sell our souls to Voldemort!"

Malfoy's face had hardened during the exchange – he may be trying to turn over a new leaf but he wasn't impervious to Ron's insults. "Pathetic as I may seem Weasel, I'm still worth more than you." He sneered as he said it, looking every inch the same man as he had been for the previous seven years. Hermione rolled her eyes at the pair of them, all this posturing really didn't get them anywhere. The next moment Ron had tried to launch himself at the blond, only Harry saving Malfoy from what would probably been a broken nose. Watching Harry struggling to contain Ron, and Blaise similarly pinning Malfoy back, Hermione felt her anger boiling.

"Both of you, grow up! The war is over, don't you see that? You need to put aside your petty, childish quarrels and just get over it! I'm not expecting you to be friends, I'm not naïve enough to think that will ever happen, but you could at least both be civil to each other. Set an example to the rest of the school!"

Both Ron and Draco eyed the witch apprehensively – her hair was bushier than ever, her faced flushed and her eyes blazing. Privately, Draco had never thought that she looked better.

"Sorry, Granger." He meant it, too. He had decided to try to turn his life around, and getting into pointless fights with the Weasel was not the best way to go about it.

For the second time Harry's jaw dropped open at Malfoy, unused to this level of civility from him, especially to Hermione whom the Slytherin had always considered of inferior birth. He was dimly aware of Blaise and Hermione also mimicking fish, although Ron was still glaring. Hermione recovered first, inwardly pleased that the cold boy seemed to have changed more than he let on.

"Yes, well… I'd prefer it if you didn't have to attack each other in the first place. You're nearly adults for Merlin's sake!" She rubbed her forehead wearily; the shouting was taking its toll on her head.

"Why are you sticking up for him, 'Mione? The git doesn't deserve it, he doesn't deserve anything from you." Ron was still glaring at Malfoy with barely disguised hatred.

Malfoy flinched, imperceptible to most but Hermione caught it, although the next moment he was back to his usual aloof self. "I don't understand why she bothers with you either Weasel, unless you've become her next charity case." Hermione felt a flash of anger at his words, but mingled in there was something else that she couldn't quite identify. _He's just insulted your boyfriend and you're busy wondering why you don't completely hate him? Ron's right, you need to get a grip Hermione._

"THAT'S IT!" Ron's face was blazing with anger as he leapt away from Harry.

The next second, Ron and Malfoy were stood with their wands out and pointed at each other's throats, a snarling expression mirrored on both. Harry and Hermione gazed from one to the other and stepped back slightly.

"Come on Ron, it isn't worth it…"

"No, for once it is. I have had it with this ferret walking around, looking like he owns the place. He shouldn't even be here, not after what he did!"

"Fighting in the corridor, Weasley?" The cold drawl of Professor Snape echoed down the corridor, causing Harry to wince and Ron's wand arm lower slightly. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and detention, I think."

Ron gaped, lowering his wand arm. "But he started it!" Malfoy, always knowing when to stay out of trouble, already had his wand away and an innocent expression on his face as the professor turned to him.

"I find little evidence to suggest that, Mr Weasley."

Ron spluttered and probably would have retaliated, when help came from an unlikely source.

"I would argue that it takes two to tango, or in this case duel." Snape whirled around, to glare at the newcomer. Dante smiled brightly at him, and then walked up to the group. "Detention Mr. Malfoy, Thursday evening after dinner in my office. Don't be late. And I don't know why you're smirking Mr. Weasley, I'm not releasing you from your detention." Ron, who had been looking hopeful, was downcast again as he glared at Professor Snape. He was about to argue further, but a well-placed stamp from Hermione's foot made him think better of it and with a final glare at Malfoy he sulkily walked off towards Gryffindor tower. With a glance at Snape's expression, Harry and Hermione followed, the latter muttering an excuse about needing to go to the library. Blaise tugged Malfoy away, who was still scowling after getting a detention, but unwilling to stay and argue when Snape seemed murderous.

The second the students were out of earshot, Snape rounded on Dante. "How dare you intervene when I am assigning punishment! Even McGonagall would not have dared."

Dante raised her eyebrows. "Don't pout at me Severus, I didn't undermine you that much. Even you must admit that those two need to learn to put the past behind them and move on, in the same way that we all do after the war. House favouritism must stop, now."

Snape continued to glare, but found himself unable to disagree with her. The long-time rivalry between Malfoy, Weasley and Potter did have to stop. Of course this only added to his displeasure. "You'll be telling me I can't support the Slytherin quidditch team next," he sarcastically added.

He was completely thrown off course by the dazzling smile that was returned to him. "Of course not, although why you'd choose to support Slytherin when there are teams like Gryffindor around…"

"Slytherin is worth twice as much as Gryffindor. Relying on relentless optimism instead of talent."

"Yes but optimism appears to go far in life, does it not?" She replied knowingly, then narrowed her eyes at him. "If you are so confident in your snakes, how about a wager to spice it up?"

"I am not betting on a quidditch match."

"Well I wouldn't either, if I was betting on Slytherin."

"Damn it, witch! Your lions don't stand a chance! I will take the bet."

"Excellent, and if I win you have to sing the first song at the Christmas ball."

"What!" Snape's eyes bulged from his head, and he stumbled backwards. "You want me to do _what_?!"

Dante just shrugged in reply. "If you can't take the heat…"

"Who said anything about heat? You're on Dante, prepare to sing."

With that Snape twirled and walked away, followed by her tinkling laughter. He was halfway down the next corridor before he stopped in his tracks, realising what he had just agreed to. His face lost all remaining colour at the thought of standing and singing in front of _the entire school_. There was only one thing that he could do about it – do everything in his power to ensure that Slytherin did not lose!


	8. Curses

**A/N** – Hi all, sorry this has been too long. Thanks for sticking with it, there is more explanation in the A/N at the end. Hopefully I've made up for the delay by making it nice and long!

**Disclaimer** – This all belongs to JK Rowling, except my OCs.

Curses

Ron was still sulking when Monday morning rolled around. Hermione and Harry had let him be for most of Sunday, both content to focus on working through their ever higher pile of work. Ron had snapped at them when they offered to keep him company, so they had just found a small table tucked away in the library and started without him. He hadn't turned up all day, evidently annoyed with them for not sticking up for him more against Malfoy, and had stubbornly sat with Neville at dinner as well. Hermione was used to Ron's moods, after all they had been best friends for many years not to mention the few months they'd been dating, and just brushed it off, knowing that he would eventually come around.

On Monday morning though, when Ron again stomped straight past them in the Gryffindor common room and charged down to breakfast without them, she decided enough was enough. Ignoring his glare she plonked herself down opposite him at the table, Harry sliding in next to him earning another glare. The trio started eating in silence, Harry catching Hermione's eye and shrugging slightly as though to suggest that he didn't know what to do. Ron was eating even more hurriedly than usual, and stood to leave very early. However, Harry and Hermione were ready for him and to Ron's annoyance managed to accompany him into the entrance hall where Harry grabbed his arm and Hermione swung in front of him.

"Ron, what's going on? Why are you avoiding us?"

Ron stared at the ground, his ears going red. "You're my girlfriend, Hermione. You should be standing up for me in front of the ferret and instead, you defend him!"

"Okay," Hermione said slowly, thinking about what he said. "Leaving aside how completely ridiculous that statement sounds, why are you avoiding Harry?"

Ron's glance sidled sideways this time, before he shrugged again and mumbled something incoherent.

"What?" Hermione asked, bemused.

"He should have been fighting Malfoy with me, not holding me back!" Ron was shouting now, and Harry ushered all three into a deserted classroom in order to avoid a scene. Ron stood facing the two of them, glaring. "Murderers like Malfoy should not be here, they should be locked up in Azkaban! And I thought you wanted to stand up for what was right, Harry. Instead, you try to stop me!"

"You can't go around beating up people Ron," Harry cried, exasperated. "Even if he is a git, he isn't a murderer."

"How can you say that!"

"I say that because I saw him Ron, I saw him on the astronomy tower that night. He is no murderer."

"I know you're hurting, Ron," Hermione started timidly. "I – I know it isn't fair, but keeping on like this will just prolong the war. V-Voldemort is gone, and now we all need to try to recover."

"We? I didn't see you lose a brother, Hermione. You don't know what it's like. But if there's something I hate even more than seeing evil gits like Malfoy walking around free, it's when someone who hasn't been through anything judging me. She wasn't even here for the war, and yet she allows me to be treated the same as Malfoy afterwards? I'm a bloody war hero - that should stand for something. Except she probably spent the last few years hiding away from it all, not wanting to risk her own neck while we were risking our lives every fucking day."

This was a new rant, but there was no doubt who Ron was talking about now. Hermione tried to intervene again.

"That's not fair, she gave Malfoy detention and she couldn't just contradict Professor Snape."

"Well of course you'd stand up for her 'Mione, she waves one small bit of new knowledge under your nose and you follow her around like her new favourite pet. Well I won't, and I'm not fooled by her, waltzing in with her new powers. Where were these powers when it came to stopping You-Know-Who? Where were they when it came to saving Fred? Nowhere. There is more to our new professor than she is telling us, and I'm going to find out what it is."

With that Ron stormed away, brushing straight past Harry and out of the open door. Hermione and Harry stood in amazement for a moment, before Harry suddenly gasped "Transfiguration!" and they hurried to their class. They reached the door in record time, diving in at the last moment before it slammed shut, indicating that the class was beginning.

Hermione struggled to focus through the long lesson, and as they were attempting to transfigure their faces to resemble one of their classmates her lack of concentration really wasn't a good thing. As she had found out, self-transfiguration took a remarkable amount of concentration at the best of times, but without it she wasn't getting anywhere. Her eyes kept sliding to where Ron was sat fuming in the corner of the classroom, his face dark and a scowl furrowing his brow. Occasionally he sent hate-filled glances around the room – at Malfoy, at Dante, and once to her surprise and sadness at her. Although she kept reminding herself it was just Ron's temper and that he would get over it soon, it still saddened her.

The rest of Monday continued as it had begun, with Ron obviously not recovering anytime soon and sulking through every class they shared. Luckily Ron wasn't in all of her classes, so for arithmancy she could just focus on her work without the distraction of a brooding boy in the corner.

At dinner Hermione was disappointed to realise that Ron had arrived before her as he had a free period and deliberately sat next to Parvati, who looked entirely uncomfortable with the situation. As Hermione approached he glared at her so fiercely that even Parvati's beseeching gaze failed to entice her to sit with them. Instead with a sigh she sat further down the table by herself, something that was unnoticed at the Slytherin table. However, she didn't have to wait long before Neville plonked down next to her, and Ginny opposite.

"My brother is an idiot," the redhead said matter of factly, causing Neville to choke on his mashed potato and Hermione to stifle a small smile. "Everyone else here is trying to move on and put the war behind them, to not allow _his_ or anyone else's death to be in vain. To carry on like Ron has is stupid." Harry, who had slipped in the seat next to his girlfriend, gently squeezed her hand as she mentioned Fred. Ginny smiled up at him before continuing. "And it's stupid to say that if you didn't take part in the war you are a coward – I know if I had a choice I would have run for miles. I can't blame anyone who did. I like Professor Dante and if she managed to stay out of the war, then good for her."

Hermione sneaked a glance at the top table where their Professor at, engaging in conversation with Flitwick. As she watched Flitwick threw his head back and laughed and Snape, to Dante's other side, scowled even more fiercely at his plate. Hermione stifled a grin at the scene. _Ginny is right. Just because someone managed to avoid the war doesn't mean we should think less of them. She is here to help us now, and that is what matters._

Dinner passed pleasantly. Over on the Slytherin table Malfoy had noticed that the Weasel seemed to be upset with Granger – not much of a surprise since he'd been like it all day. Draco may have decided to keep his head down, but a part of him couldn't help but triumph in the knowledge that the golden trio were showing cracks. He managed to make upbeat conversation for once, an inexplicable good mood surrounding him.

Hermione had a great time chatting to Neville, she gathered that he was getting on well and had started an apprenticeship in herbology, much like her healing tutorials. She was very pleased for him, herbology suited Neville and she could see him taking over the reins when Professor Sprout decided to call it a day. It was good to sit and talk to him, it was not something she had had much opportunity for since she came back and she realised over the course of the meal that she had missed his company.

As dinner was almost over, Professor McGonagall stood and cleared her throat, causing every head in the hall to turn to her. She had always commanded respect, but as headmistress that had been amplified. The students sat in silence, waiting in anticipation for her to begin. With a small smile, she obliged them. "Could every eighth year please remain in the hall after you have finished, I have an announcement to make that concerns you." With that the headmistress sat back down, but not before the whole hall had erupted into excited whispers, many people across all years wondering what the announcement would be.

The eighth years didn't have long to wait. Once the prefects had shepherded the lingering younger years out of the hall (many, including Ginny, loitering to find out what the announcement was) the headmistress stood again. She cleared her throat and beckoned the small remaining group of students nearer to the head table. The eighth years stood in a cluster, and for the first time Hermione realised how few of them there really were. Less than half their year had returned, and Hermione found herself wondering vaguely what had happened to the rest.

Professor McGonagall tapped her goblet to get her students' attention again. "I have been consulting with the NEWT exam board regarding you, as you are in an unprecedented position regarding your studies. While I am aware that not everyone here managed to attend for their full seventh year," her eyes slid over to Harry, Hermione and Ron as she said this, "many of you at least spent part of the year in education, and some others probably gained knowledge in more… vocational ways. It would seem pointless for all of you to retake all of your subjects, and so I have made an arrangement for NEWTs to be taken at the end of November for anyone who feels ready in a particular subject."

The hall erupted into noise again, this time more subdued as some of the students began muttering to each other. Hermione stared at the headmistress in panic – the end of November was only six weeks away! How could anyone be ready by then! She caught Malfoy smirking at her horrified expression and glared at him in return, but at least she had been distracted from her panic. McGonagall cleared her throat again to silence the whispers echoing around the room. "Of course we don't expect you to make this decision alone, your teacher in each subject will approach you if they believe you are ready to take the exams. It is hoped that by taking one or two of your NEWTs early, each of you will have more time to dedicate to whichever extra studying you have decided to pursue."

_More time for healing_… now Hermione was thinking more seriously about the proposition. Although she still felt inadequately prepared for her exams, she couldn't deny that the idea of being able to dedicate more time to healing was incredibly appealing. _I'll just have to wait and see which teachers think I'm ready_. She didn't try to insult her intelligence by continuing to insist she wasn't ready for anything – she knew she was top in nearly every subject and that some teachers were bound to come up to her. She was busy trying to calculate who when she realised that McGonagall had dismissed them all and she hurried to the dungeons for her Monday healing tutorial with Snape. Talking to Harry and Ginny about taking exams early would have to wait until afterwards.

-x-x-

Modifying the Wolfsbane potion was incredibly difficult, there was very little information in books regarding the potion as it was invented so recently and after several hours pouring through volumes and tentatively adding ingredients to a smoking goblet her Snape informed her their session was finished for the day. Hermione stood up, stiff from sitting for so long in one position and very tired after a long day. She put her books away in silence, tiredly wiping a dusty hand across her face as she loaded them back onto the shelves. When she finished she looked up to see Snape standing, holding the door open for her as he waited for her to finish.

Surprised at his gestured, she stammered a thank you as she slipped out, to which he responded with a nod and a rare smile before falling into step with her as they moved up through the castle.

"Do not be too disheartened by a lack of progress, it was unlikely that we would find anything in the books anyway." Hermione looked up at her professor but he did not turn his head to look at her, just continued to walk as he was. "Professor Dante is of the opinion that what you are learning in her sessions will be of far more use in determining what additional ingredients may be needed."

"And what is your opinion, sir?"

A smirk began to play at the corner of his mouth. "Much as it pains me to admit it, it is possible she may have a point."

Hermione nodded, thinking back over everything she had learnt over the past few weeks. Being able to feel the effect the potion was having should enable her to feel what could be added to reduce some of the properties.

"Of course, if you spent more time studying healing and less on other subjects you would get there sooner." Snape stopped and turned to her now, they had reached the point where they needed to separate to go their separate ways. "There is very little more I can teach you in Defence Against the Dark Arts. I recommend that you take the NEWT as soon as possible, so you can stop wasting your time when you could be doing something productive. I'm sure that will be the case in other subjects too, but I do not believe you are ready yet to take potions, regardless of what Professor Slughorn may or may not tell you."

"T-thank you, sir."

Snape merely raised his eyebrows and started walking down the corridor away from her. Her head reeling, Hermione climbed the stairway that would take her to the seventh floor and her dormitory.

-x-x-

Hermione was gratified and secretly very pleased over the next few days as more Professors added to Snape's recommendation that she take her NEWTs early in their classes. Professor Flitwick had soon added his voice, insisting that she knew everything he could teach in charms. Slughorn tried to persuade her to take his exam early too, but she heeded Snape's advice and declined. She was also secretly relieved when Dante told the entire class that although they may know enough to take the NEWT, they did not know enough to excel. This earned many grumbles, particularly from Ron's direction Hermione thought, but these were silenced when their professor pointed out that come the New Year they would be looking at animagi. The possibility of being taught how to become an animagus was enough to keep the students happy and silence the dissenters.

Having decided to keep going with potions and transfiguration, Hermione also decided that she still had a lot to learn in herbology. For a start, learning how to look after the plants that provided key potion ingredients was an important part of potions. Or at least, that was how she justified her choice to Professor Dante during their session on Wednesday. She had also decided to keep going with arithmancy, as it was an area she loved and gave her a break from the healing. However, she would take ancient runes in November with DADA and charms.

Dante smiled and agreed, assuring Hermione that her choices made sense as well as freeing up sufficient extra time for healing sessions. The younger girl left their tutorial feeling much happier than she had all week, practically skipping back to the Gryffindor common room. To top it all off, when she arrived Ron was standing waiting to apologise for his actions. She forgave him – of course she did, he had been an arse but that came with the package. He was Ron after all, and she had no illusions that he was perfect. After a long chat that included many apologies, followed by a noisy game of exploding snap where the pair of them trounced Harry and Ginny, she retired to her dormitory tired but very happy thinking about how well the week was turning out to be.

-x-x-

Draco was apprehensive. Not an unusual feeling recently, but now he felt even more so than usual as he made his was to his detention. Surprisingly he had very rarely been given detention before – partly due to Snape's leniency and mainly due to being very good at not getting caught. The detentions he had served, except for that awful one in first year when he went into the forest, had in general been very mundane and usually consisted of cleaning something without magic (_menial elf work_) or writing lines (_completely pointless_). However, he had the nasty suspicion that Dante with her characteristic unpredictability would not be giving him anything as simple as cleaning desks.

So it was with some trepidation that he knocked on the door to the Transfiguartion classroom, trying to decide whether he was more nervous of its current occupant or its former one. When a voice called for him to enter, his eyes were drawn immediately to a small table in the middle of the room, with two chairs positioned either side of it, facing each other.

"Good evening Mr. Malfoy. Please take a seat," Draco's attention snapped from the table to his professor, realising she was gesturing to the chair nearest him. He hesitated briefly, causing Dante to chuckle.

"It's not going to bite you. Sit down, Draco."

It may have been the use of her conversational tone, the horribly disarming chuckle, or the informal use of his first name, but Draco found himself sinking into the chair without protest. Dante leaned casually against her desk, watching her student with a calculating gaze that Malfoy didn't like. Maybe one part of the conversation that he had unwittingly heard (and really not been able to avoid) between the golden trio in the entrance hall was correct. Much as he _hated_ agreeing with the Weasel, he had a very strong gut feeling that there was more to this professor than she let on.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening suddenly. Spinning around, Draco was surprised to see his godfather striding in, in his usual overly dramatic manner. Snape took one look at the blond boy sat at the small table and stopped mid sweep.

"Draco, what are you doing here?"

"Detention," Draco replied sulkily.

Snape seemed put out, and Draco saw him look from Dante back to himself before eventually speaking again. "Professor Dante, a word please?"

The redhead smiled. "Of course, Professor. My office is this way. I'll be back in a moment, Mr Malfoy."

Snape swept after her, leaving Malfoy sat by himself in the classroom feeling very bemused.

-x-x-

As soon as the door swung shut behind them Snape rounded on Malfoy. "What is he doing here? You cannot expect him to take part today?"

"I don't see why not, it is my detention after all."

Snape just glared at her. "Reschedule his detention. It cannot be necessary to use him as a dummy." He turned to go, but stopped when he felt a gentle hand on his arm, and his name called softly.

"Severus…

Turning back around, he saw blue eyes fixed on him with compassion and understanding. "I promise the boy will come to no harm, and it is no accident that I chose him to be here. Who better to help out in a healing class than someone who is in such dire need of healing?

Snape was rendered speechless as he watched his colleague smile and walk softly past him into the main classroom. He turned to follow, muttering to himself. "There are some things that no amount of healing will manage to heal."

He hadn't realised he had been heard until words floated back to him. "But how will you know if you don't try?" For a concerning moment, Snape thought that she might not even be talking about Malfoy. He brushed the thought away as he re-entered the transfiguration classroom.

While the teachers had been talking, Malfoy had just sat in his seat waiting for something to do. Again he was distracted by the door banging open, but this time it wasn't a professor that entered but a harassed looking Granger.

"Sorry I'm late professor, I…..Malfoy! What are you doing here?!"

"Detention Granger, what does it look like?"

Draco smirked to himself as she gaped at him, rather resembling a fish. Her attention moved from him as Professor Dante walked back into the room.

"Hello Hermione, can you please sit down in your usual seat and we'll begin."

Draco's smirk slipped immediately as Hermione sat in the seat opposite him and looked nervously at him. It felt as though she was waiting for him to do something. Snape, who had followed their transfiguration teacher back into the room, leaned against the wall at the back, his face impassive.

"Now Draco, if you could please place an arm on the table in front of you, palm up." Draco complied, shooting another glance at his head of house who was still watching with a neutral expression. "Excellent. Right Hermione, you know what to do."

Draco watched as Hermione apprehensively reached over and placed her hand on top of his. He stiffened but didn't pull away, and she let out a small sigh of relief. Draco was definitely not comfortable with this, he was not used to physical contact and had probably only ever touched Hermione before when she had hit him. But what happened next was worse – suddenly his arm started to warm up, spreading from the point where he gently held Hermione's hand.

"What the fuck!" He shouted, jumping to his feet and staring wildly at Hermione, who was staring at him wide-eyed.

"Language Draco," Professor Dante called in a melodious voice as she moved closer to Hermione. "Well?" Her question was directed at the younger girl, still sat at the table with her eyes wide. At the question, Hermione's attention snapped back to jer professor.

"Um….water, I think Professor. But I didn't really have long enough."

"Really?" Dante's blue eyes now fixed their gaze on Draco, twinkling knowingly. "How interesting."

"What the f-"

"Draco!"

"Sorry," The blond muttered, looking apologetically at his godfather who had been the latest to chastise him over his language. "What in _Merlin_ did Granger just do to me, Professor?"

"She used magic to find out your elemental affinity." Dante proclaimed with a happy smile. "Water is fairly rare Mr. Malfoy, so if Hermione's correct you should feel privileged."

Draco stood staring at her, his mind trying to process what he was being told. Eventually he managed to stammer "…Elemental magic?"

The responding nod from a still worried Granger gave confirmation to his fears. He jumped back, away from the small table and just stared at his transfiguration teacher. "What are you doing? That's illegal! Don't you know what you could have done?!"

Hermione's eyes widened even more, and Snape's expression grew dark, but Draco was unaware of both these things. He saw his professor's eyebrows rise, and she asked "Certainly it's not illegal, and I'm interested to know why you think it's immoral."

"You can overwrite someone's mind, make them fall in love, bewitch them! She's trying to seduce me!"

"I see," Dante sighed and rubbed her forehead with one hand, as though relieving a headache building up.

"I-Is that true?" Hermione asked timidly, also turning to her teacher.

"Not entirely," came the reply, which did not seem to soothe anyone in the room. Noticing this, Dante sighed and hopped up onto her desk. "I don't mean to say that elemental magic can make someone be in love – that's nonsense, and I'm sure you're aware nothing can make someone truly in love. However, as I have explained before it is incredibly linked to your emotions. If you had an attraction, or love for someone that you were unaware of or unwilling to accept, then the power of the magic can override your normal inhibitions and bring that emotion out.

"Think of what would happen if, say, a pureblood wizard who had long held feelings that they deemed completely inappropriate towards a muggleborn, and elemental magic caused them to act on their emotions. Wouldn't they be likely to blame the emotion on the magic as well?" Dante's question was mainly aimed at Draco, and he pursed his lips as he thought about it. When she put it like that, it seemed _exactly_ the sort of thing a pureblood wizard would do. The teacher continued. "There are many reasons why elemental magic is disapproved of by the wizarding elite, and most of them are complete rubbish. Some have basis in fact, but to overlook an entire branch of magic because of them is not rational.

"I have never asked you to do anything that would put you in harm Hermione, and I always ensure that you are fully in control of your emotions before we begin. As we deal with more advanced situations, I will suggest occlumency lessons to increase your control."

Hermione nodded slightly, her fears seemingly assuaged. Dante gave her an approving smile, before turning back to Draco. "So Draco, unless the rather unlikely scenario of you harbouring some form of romantic attachment to Miss Granger is indeed before us, I think you're perfectly immune to any seduction and we can continue your detention and Miss Granger's tutorial."

Draco glared at her and didn't reply, but did sulkily slouch into the seat opposite Hermione again and thump his arm down on the table between them. Taking that as a cue to resume, Hermione placed her hand rather hesitantly back in his and again Draco felt a warmth spreading from his palm up through his arm. This time he didn't tear his arm away, though he did flinch at the strange sensation.

When the feeling had travelled to his elbow he felt it stop, and all the warmth left suddenly causing him to feel cold. Looking up, he realised Hermione had let go of his hand.

"It, um, he is definitely water." Her eyes flicked from Draco's to Dante's and back again. Draco groaned inwardly, this was awkward enough without Granger constantly worrying about his reaction. Sure, he'd reacted a bit badly but for him that was nothing.

"Wonderful. Now Draco, switch arms."

Draco complied and his left arm was on the desk before he realised what she was asking. Desperately, he tried to catch his godfather's eye. Draco could have sworn for a moment surprise and alarm flickered over the pale face, but then it was once again inscrutable and Granger's hand was back in his own. Without any time to let the panic set in, the warmth was creeping up his arm again.

But then it stopped. In the middle of his forearm. Right where… _oh bugger_.

"There's something here. Something….dark is entangled with his magic." Draco again caught Snape's eye, but now the alarm the older wizard felt was clear to see.

"See if you can try to unpick it, Hermione." The casualness in Dante's voice made Draco want to scream at her. Instead, he contented himself with careful scrutiny of his classmate, watching her concentrate with closed eyes and a small frown as she was doing…_something_ to his arm. Her teeth came out and hooked in front of her bottom lip, a sure sign that what she was doing was difficult. _She doesn't realise…_

Suddenly the warmth vanished, and Hermione slumped into her chair clearly exhausted. "I tried, but it was so difficult…I got rid of some of it I think…some just flew right back after I detached it. What _was _that?"

Dante smiled enigmatically. "Mr. Malfoy, please roll up your sleeve."

Draco, feeling sick and faint, didn't have the will to argue any more and slowly complied. _This detention is definitely the worst one I have _ever_ done._

Once he had unbuttoned the bottom of the shirt sleeve, he grasped the cuff and pulled it sharply upwards, as though doing it quickly would somehow make it more bearable. When his forearm was revealed he gasped audibly, and he wasn't the only one.

Hermione was openly staring at his Dark Mark with a mixture of revulsion and sudden realisation. But Draco had seen something she didn't. The mark was still there, still red and sore. Mostly. But where the snake protruded out of the hideous skull, something had happened. The body of the snake still slithered and moved slightly, but where there was once a malicious head with staring eyes and flickering tongue, there now was nothing.

For a moment he couldn't stop staring. When he finally looked up from his arm, he saw Snape gazing at it with the same level of shock. Looking past his godfather Draco locked eyes with blue eyes that almost seemed to see right through him. Dante had the indecency to still be sitting on her desk, swinging her legs and looking almost unbearably smug, _almost as though she planned it_.

**A/N: I know I've got a few people who read this regularly, which is great, but I'm at a bit of a crossroads. I'm enjoying writing this story but I'm feeling a bit lost about where it's going, and that's one of the causes of the long delays. So I have two options – either continue with it, or take it down, work on it slowly whilst concentrating on other works and then repost some time in the future. I don't normally like begging for replies, but if you'd like me to keep going now please let me know and I'll keep working on it. Otherwise I'll probably take it down soon and try to polish what I've done so far whilst working out what is going to happen (I do have some ideas but no really firm direction yet… not entirely sure about making a SS/Dante pairing or how the story will end for them, how things will work out with Ron etc).**

**So, I've wandered a bit off my point here – let me know if you want me to keep it going! (Please feel free to pm me if you'd rather not review). Also, if anyone wants to beta it and help me out that way, also get in touch.**


	9. There May Be Trouble Ahead

**A/N** – I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who told me to keep going – it makes me realise that there are a lot of people who really enjoy this story and it provides me with the inspiration to keep going! I know it's taken me a while to update (and it may take me a while to get the next update up) but my inspiration wandered off somewhere and has only just come back.

I think the next few chapters may be a little shorter – I'm going to try to update more regularly but I think that means less words per chapter.

Also **warning** there are a couple of rude words later in this chapter.

**Disclaimer** – This all belongs to JK Rowling, except my OCs.

There May be Trouble Ahead

The four people in the empty classroom were silent, staring at Malfoy's Dark Mark. Hermione was the first to move, spinning around to Dante. "I thought a Dark Mark was permanent?"

"It is…" muttered Snape, still disbelieving what he could see.

"I imagine Voldemort thought it was," Dante replied. "But as we've often discussed, elemental magic is very rare nowadays. Old pureblooded families either see it as something abhorrent or a fairytale, and outside of pureblooded families no-one has heard of it at all. He either didn't know about it, or as I believe he simply underestimated it. The stories that any pureblood families could offer would be of how it can be used to seduce, or trick. Nothing about the many practical uses it holds, and certainly nothing about the diversity of it."

"You knew elemental magic could get rid of it?" This came from Draco, self consciously pulling the sleeve of his shirt down again.

"I didn't know anything Draco, I merely suspected it might. It also gives Hermione a good opportunity to see how the magic may be used against curses, to untangle the curse from the person's normal magic. It's a very useful technique, but would not have worked if Voldemort had put in safeguards against it."

Draco seemed content at that, nodding as he retreated into his thoughts. Snape slowly stood from his position, drawing everyone's attention.

"It has been a long day, and I believe it is time for Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy to return to their houses. Professor, I wish to speak to you further."

Hermione bit back her cry of disappointment at finishing so soon – it was fascinating! Dante looked at her sympathetically. "You could do no more this evening anyway, Hermione. You may not realise how tired you are, but I can see it. We will continue another day, if Mr Malfoy is willing." A curt nod from the blond in question sealed the deal, and they agreed to reconvene the following week. With that the students were dismissed.

Hermione hadn't realised that Malfoy was following her until he cleared his throat loudly, jerking her from her reverie to find herself about to ascend the stairs to the seventh floor.

She spun to face him and immediately he turned defensive, only relaxing when she quirked an eyebrow. "Well?"

"Could you do that without Dante there?"

"Professor Dante, and probably. It's not too difficult to master really, although I suppose it depends if you have the innate ability."

Draco nodded in thought, before asking "So if we met up Saturday to sort out the music for the dance you'd be able to give it another go?"

"Yes."

"Ok, see you then Granger." He started walking down the stairs. Hermione watched him go, chewing her bottom lip. She gathered up her courage.

"Malfoy!" The blond turned round, an eyebrow raised and a dark expression.

"If you're thinking about changing – "

"I'm sorry." She interrupted. "I'm sorry about the things I said the other day. They were out of line and untrue."

His grey eyes looked at her as though judging how much she meant it, and then with a curt nod he was gone. She began climbing the stairs towards her tower feeling that the evening had been a very interesting one.

-x-x-

Saturday morning came all too soon for Hermione. Mostly because she had been dreading it all week, and not just because of the meeting with Malfoy she had arranged for the afternoon. No, Hermione Granger was dreading Saturday because she was Going Shopping.

There were some forms of shopping that she found acceptable – when she was little she had loved following her dad around the DIY centre, helping him pick out the screws that he needed to reattach the bathroom mirror or similar. It had been 'their thing', and when she thought back about the things she missed most about her parents it was little things like the DIY store trip on a weekend afternoon or the times she helped her mum in the garden that she thought of. She also loved bookshops, clichéd for the Gryffindor bookworm as that was. However, one type of shopping that Hermione Granger did not like was clothes shopping.

Sometimes though, it was a necessity. And when she was due to meet her boyfriend for a nice date in Hogsmeade on Sunday it could be considered a necessity, particularly given that her final pair of jeans had decided to split in a rather embarrassing place and her favourite little boots had developed a hole in the sole. However much she bemoaned replacing her oh-so-comfy boots she had owned forever, even she had to admit that when her foot got wet every time she stood in a puddle it was time to give up.

The result of this was that she needed clothes desperately. Ginny helpfully suggested that if Hermione just went shopping more often then she wouldn't ever reach a crisis point like the one she was currently in, but Hermione felt that rather defeated the point of avoiding clothes shopping where possible. Not for the first time she wished that the wizarding world would hurry up and modernise – internet shopping was one of the muggle world's best inventions. Owl-order just wasn't as satisfying.

After managing to ditch Ginny by persuading Harry as coach to arrange a quidditch practise, Hermione apparated to Diagon Alley and slipped into muggle London via Gringotts. Technically she could probably have found something in the shops in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley, but wizarding fashion wasn't really to her taste and never had been. It was common anyway to see wizards in muggle fashions nowadays, even if many of them didn't like to admit where the inspiration had come from.

After running into several shops and spending far too much money, she had acquired a lacy blue top with a white lining, combined with some new jeans and even some replacement boots. She had gone a little mad in the shoe shop and accidently bought some red heels that she didn't actually think she could walk in, but consoled herself by thinking she probably wouldn't wear them out anyway.

All in all, Hermione felt that the morning had been a success. She had the sexy-but-not-too-revealing outfit she had been after for the date, and had managed to stock up on staples. She was just going to head back to Diagon Alley for a quick bite in the Leaky Cauldron before going back to Hogwarts when a newspaper headline on a stand she was passing caught her eye. She quickly bought it and opened it, stopping dead in the middle of the pavement when she read the article. Oblivious to the disgruntled stares of businessmen who narrowly avoided ploughing into her as they navigated the busy streets she continued to read.

"TERRORIST GROUP STRIKES AGAIN!

The fire that swept through a small hamlet in Suffolk on Thursday night has been attributed to the terrorist group behind several atrocities earlier this year, including the destruction of the Millenium Bridge that killed 7 people and injured 48. This new attack in the small hamlet of Bolford left 18 people dead and five houses destroyed. Originally though to be tragic accident, the police have now released a statement that suggests this was no accident but a coordinated and meticulously planned attack.

No group has yet come forward to claim this latest atrocity as there own, but it is believed that there is only one group in this country capable of carrying out such an attack…"

Hermione shook as she folded the paper and placed it into her bag. It had to be a coincidence – it just had to! It couldn't be another death eater attack. The war was over and most key members had been caught and were awaiting trial, all others were on the run being hunted by all the aurors available.

Her mind still churning, she just grabbed a sandwich to takeaway and ate as she walked, suddenly keen to be back within Hogwarts' protective boundaries. The feeling of being hunted had come back, and she wanted nothing more than to be back in her dormitory.

She apparated straight to the Hogwarts gates and almost ran to her room, diving onto her bed and pulling the curtains closed. Pulling the paper back out from her bag, she ran her eyes over it again, this time reading the whole article fully. Once she had finished, she tried to calm herself down. Of course it wasn't Death Eaters, they weren't even sure it wasn't just an accident. The houses had all been thatched, and very close to each other. With the strong winds on Thursday night in that part of the country, a fire could have spread very quickly and the time of the fire meant that most inhabitants had been sleeping. A tragedy yes, but not necessarily a Death Eater attack.

Still, there was a little voice at the back of her mind that said this was too much of a coincidence for it to be an accident.

"Hermione?" The brunette was jolted from her thoughts by the return of Ginny, muddy but jubilant as she pulled the curtains open. "How did the shopping go?"

"Oh, really good."

"So?" When Hermione looked at her blankly, Ginny huffed. "Let's see then!"

"Oh!" Hermione began pulling clothes absently from bags, ensuring that the article was hidden away as she did so. She stopped arranging them on the bed as Ginny took hold of one of her arms, gently.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." At Ginny's look of scepticism, she elaborated. "You know what I'm like with clothes shopping Gin. I'm just a bit overwhelmed, that's all."

The redhead seemed to accept this, and Hermione continued to unpack her purchases, only stopping when she caught sight of her watch. "Oh, I'm so sorry Gin but I'm late to meet Malfoy!"

"Malfoy?! What do you want with the ferret?"

"Oh, head duties," Hermione replied distractedly. "Help yourself to this lot, I'll be back later." With that she turned and rushed out of the room, leaving a bewildered Ginny standing in her wake.

-x-x-

Draco was not impressed. Sure, he wasn't always punctual, but that was only to be expected of a Malfoy. Granger however was known for her punctuality. In fact, she was often early in her dedication to being there on time. So the fact that she was half an hour late was especially galling. Did she forget? Change her mind? Whatever the reason, he was not best pleased. He stood from the chair he had been lounging in whilst portraying a nonchalant attitude, and instead began to pace in front of the fireplace.

The possibility of being rid of his increasingly painful Dark Mark had occupied his every thought since the detention two days ago. All he wanted was to rid himself of it, to be able to walk away from his tainted past and to start anew. He'd even make amends with Granger if she was able to help him do this. That was, if she ever turned up.

Dumbledore's portrait swinging inwards to permit a dishevelled Granger sent Malfoy swinging round to face her. Taking in her appearance, he thought that once he would have mocked her for her red face, or the hair that was tied back but still managed to give her a frizzy halo. Now though it just seemed like too much hassle, so he settled for "Granger."

"I'm so sorry Malfoy," she panted, grasping at the back of one of the chairs as she doubled over trying to get her breath back. "I lost…track of time."

Malfoy shrugged, whilst inside he was cursing her for making him wait even longer while she regained her composure. He simply stood watching, one eyebrow quirked at her as she slowly began breathing normally again.

"You know, that's very disconcerting."

"That would be the idea. Are you ready?"

"Yes." Hermione made an attempt to smooth her hair down again, before sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the little coffee table. She looked at him expectantly, so Malfoy sunk down across the table from her. He placed his arm out on the table with the palm up, and as before she reached across and placed her hand in his. As she did so, she noticed that the edge of his shirt had rolled up and the bottom edge of the mark was visible. Immediately she was reminded of the news article, but she put it out of her mind as she began searching for the curse. It was harder than usual, but she was almost there when Malfoy leapt back with a yelp, breaking their connection.

"What was that for?!"

"Excuse me?"

"Are you just using this as an excuse to pay me back? That's low, Granger."

"What are you on about, Malfoy?"

"Why did you burn my arm?"

"I didn't! I….oh" Understanding dawned. "I must have concentrated too hard. But there's no reason to start accusing me!"

They were both glaring at each other now from opposite sides of the coffee table in a silent standoff, brown eyes locked with grey.

"Well…will you be able to continue?" Malfoy's voice was still confrontational, but at least he dropped his gaze, freeing Hermione who took a shaky breath. Then, pulling herself together, she stood up.

"Wait, don't go, I'm so-" Malfoy was cut off as Hermione plonked herself back down next to him and grabbed his arm.

Rolling her eyes at his shocked expression _presumably because I dared to touch his Lordship without permission_ she growled in her mind, irritation with the blond overriding all other concerns. Again she felt for his magic, grasping it easily this time and working her way up towards where the mark wound itself through him.

Malfoy felt the warmth spread through his arm, accompanied by a tingling that he hadn't felt before. He felt the warmth congregate in his arm, but the tingling reached out through his entire body. He opened his mouth to ask Granger what it was but suddenly found himself unable to. He was frozen and unable to move, but a split second after the panic had set in it was gone. Suddenly it wasn't important anymore, instead he needed to lean forwards, _just a bit further_, until his face was inches from Granger's.

His proximity caused her to look up from his arm, and she started when she realised how close he was, but then the next thing she knew her brain was overrided and instead she closed the distance between them.

Their kiss started slow at first, but soon turned frenzied as he reached up with his free hand and pulled her towards him. Despite a small part of her brain shrieking at her that what she was doing was wrong she ran her free hand up his torso in turn, tugging his shirt free to run it along his stomach.

They continued like this for some minutes, until Draco decided this wasn't enough and pulled his other hand free from her grasp to run up her back – and promptly jumped about a foot away while she leapt in the opposite direction.

For a second they just stared at each other, panting, until…

"What the _fuck_ was that!"

"What on Earth just happened?"

They spoke at exactly the same time, and there was an identical look of horror on each of their faces.

"I don't know what shit you're trying to pull Granger-"

"_Me!_ I wasn't the one who started it!"

"You kissed me!"

"Because you leant it towards me, ferret!"

"So you kiss everyone who leans towards you?!"

"Yes! No wait, no! I mean…what on Earth just happened?!"

"You decided to use that stupid element thing to seduce me!"

"Didn't you listen to Professor Dante? It doesn't work like that, it only works if you have an attraction…oh bloody hell, you're attracted to me!"

"Excuse me! That was not a one way kiss!"

They stood facing each other, the coffee table miraculously between them once again, chests heaving after their shouting match. Eventually Hermione turned aside to escape his gaze.

"I think…that we should never mention this again."

"Agreed."

"Good." Hermione said firmly, grabbing her bag. "I'll…um…see you around." With that, she ran away.

Draco sunk into one of the chair, shakily running his hand through his hair. As an after thought, he pulled up his sleeve to check the mark, and saw that even more had gone. _She managed to do it_ he thought, but shied away from the thought of what happened after. He also left the room to go back to his common room, not noticing that the portrait of Dumbledore was finding it increasingly hard to contain his laughter at the events of the afternoon.

-x-x-

Hermione flew through the castle back to her dorm, and for a second time that day flew into her bed and charmed her curtains closed. She lay there, trying to work out what had just happened. She understood how the magic could have worked, but that involved admitting an attraction to Malfoy. She was NOT attracted to Malfoy. Not one little bit.

So why couldn't she get the image of kissing him out of her mind?


End file.
